Obstetric Violence and Systemic Disparities

Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, and Senior Advisor to the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction, is a well-known medical/reproductive anthropologist and international speaker and researcher in transformational models in childbirth, midwifery, obstetrics, and reproduction.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Darker and the Lighter Sides of Biomedical Maternity Care: Moving from Obstetric Violence, Disrespect, and Abuse to the Humanization and De-Colonization of BirthRobbie Davis-Floyd and Ashish PremkumarPart I: Obstetric Violence and Systematic Racial, Ethnic, Gendered, and Socio-Structural Disparities in Obstetricians’ PracticesChapter 1. Obstetricians and the Delivery of Obstetric Violence: An Ethnographic Account from the Dominican RepublicAnnie Preaux and Arachu CastroChapter 2. “Bad Pelvises”: Mexican Obstetricians and the Re-Affirmation of Race in Labor and DeliverySarah A. WilliamsChapter 3. “Selfish Mothers,” “Misinformed” Childbearers, and “Control Freaks”: Gendered Tropes in US Obstetricians’ Justifications for Delegitimizing Patient Autonomy in ChildbirthLauren Diamond-BrownChapter 4. Implicit Racial Bias in Obstetrics: How US Obstetricians View and Treat Pregnant Women of ColorGenevieve Ritchie-EwingChapter 5. Censusing the Quechua: Peruvian Obstetras in Light of Historic Sterilizations, Contemporary Accusations, and Biopolitical Statecraft ObligationsRebecca IronsThis chapter is available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Wellcome Trust.Part II: Decolonizing and Humanizing Obstetric Training and Practice? Obstetricians, Midwives, and their Battles against “The System”Chapter 6. Decolonizing Medical Education in the UKAmali U. Lokugamage, Tharanika Ahillan, and S.D.C PathberiyaChapter 7. Teaching Humanistic and Holistic Obstetrics: Triumphs and FailuresBeverley ChalmersChapter 8. The Inconsistent Path of Russian Obstetricians to the Humanization of Birth in Post-Soviet Maternity CareAnna Ozhiganova and Anna TemkinaChapter 9. The Paradigm Shifts of Humanistic and Holistic Obstetricians: The “Good Guys and Girls” of BrazilRobbie Davis-Floyd and Eugenia GeorgesChapter 10. Interprofessional Education for Medical and Midwifery Students in Aotearoa/New ZealandRea Daellenbach, Lorna Davies, Maggie Meeks, Melanie Welfare, and Judy OrmandyChapter 11. The Changing Face of Obstetric Practice in the US as the Percent of Women in the Specialty Has GrownDeborah McNabbPart III: The Ethnographic Challenges of Gaining Access to Obstetricians for Surveys, Interviews, and ObservationsChapter 12. The Ethnographic Challenges of Gaining Access to Obstetricians for Surveys, Interviews, and ObservationsRobbie Davis-Floyd and Ashish PremkumarConclusions: Concepts, Conceptual Frameworks, and Lessons LearnedRobbie Davis-Floyd and Ashish PremkumarSeries Conclusions: Creating the Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians and Suggesting Directions for Future ResearchRobbie Davis-Floyd and Ashish PremkumarIndex