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Birth in Four Cultures : A Crosscultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States
While the process of childbirth is, in some sense, everywhere the same, it is also everywhere different in that each culture has produced a birthing system that is strikingly dissimilar from the others. Based on her fieldwork in the United States, Sweden, Holland, and Yucatan, Jordan develops a framework for the discussion and investigation of different birthing systems. Illustrated with useful examples and lively anecdotes from Jordan's own fieldwork, the Fourth Edition of this innovative comparative ethnography brings the reader to a deeper understanding of childbirth as a culturally grounded, biosocially mediated, and interactionally achieved event.
The revised and greatly expanded edition of this award-winning book includes updated material and features three new chapters that represent the author's most recent work, probing even more fully the issues surrounding the anthropology of birth.
The revised and greatly expanded edition of this award-winning book includes updated material and features three new chapters that represent the author's most recent work, probing even more fully the issues surrounding the anthropology of birth.
235 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Brigitte Jordan
9 books3 followersBrigitte Jordan, Ph.D.
Before opening her own consulting practice, Brigitte Jordan held appointments as Principal Scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and as Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Research on Learning. A frequent speaker at international conferences and executive workshops, she is the author of more than 50 scholarly and technical publications. She is a recipient of the prestigious Margaret Mead Award of the American Anthropological Association and has recently received the Excellence in Science and Technology Award from the Xerox Corporation for innovative work in corporate settings
Before opening her own consulting practice, Brigitte Jordan held appointments as Principal Scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and as Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Research on Learning. A frequent speaker at international conferences and executive workshops, she is the author of more than 50 scholarly and technical publications. She is a recipient of the prestigious Margaret Mead Award of the American Anthropological Association and has recently received the Excellence in Science and Technology Award from the Xerox Corporation for innovative work in corporate settings
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 2, 2022
This book was required reading in an anthropology class that our daughter took at the University of Notre Dame. She was so impressed that she passed it along to me. This is a book I wish I'd read before giving birth to our four children in the mid 1980s and early 1990s. Women have given birth forever using tried and true methods. The methods that obstetricians introduced to the birthing process in the 1800s and 1900s seem somewhat barbaric compared to other cultures, even cultures that seem "backward" in the view of modern medicine. Thankfully all of my birthing experiences were successful, but if I'd been presented with this information before then, I certainly would have done things a lot differently. Much less intervention and having me make more of the decisions rather than leaving them in the hands of the medical team members. The book is dated, but the information is still valid and worth reading. From what I've seen, the birthing experience is better in the U.S. today than it was 30 years ago, but I would imagine there still is room for improvement.
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April 23, 2024Very dense (not for casual reading, lol) but quite interesting. The descriptions of American birthing practices in the 1970s are kind of horrifying.
May 28, 2008
This book talks about the way child birth is for the Mayans, the Dutch, and the Americans. The anthropologist compares and contrasts the beliefs, and practices of child birth in all of the cultures. I found it interesting that industrialized societies, especially america, do child birth differently than what is naturally "correct". What surprised me most was that the infant mortality rate is higher in America than in a developing country like the Yucatan because doctors rely on machinery and a strict procedure to deliver children.
April 4, 2019
A wonderful resource from anthropologist Brigitte Jordan who pioneered the cross-cultural study of birth during her dissertation work. As someone trained to some degree in the social sciences, and as a nerd, it was just as interesting to read Jordan's take and treatment of the methodological challenges and opportunities around the study of birth as it was to read about some of her findings themselves.
None of Jordan's findings were too surprising in 2019, more than 40 years after initial publication in 1978 and 20+ years after the update in 1993. What is interesting, though also not that surprising, is how change has continued to be slow (happening though!) in the US and how many of her predictions about the medicalization of the birth process in developing countries would progress, not always to the benefit of mothers and children.
It made me hungry to learn more about how birth in the US and other places IS changing, and how I can be part of that as a new doula. It also made me hungry to learn more about other traditional cultural practices, particularly from my own Chinese and SE Asian culture. I know some about postpartum practices of confinement, but much less about the birthing process itself. My assumption is that in most Asian countries today, birth is highly medicalized and rates of cesarians etc. rival the US, but it made me hungry to know more.
None of Jordan's findings were too surprising in 2019, more than 40 years after initial publication in 1978 and 20+ years after the update in 1993. What is interesting, though also not that surprising, is how change has continued to be slow (happening though!) in the US and how many of her predictions about the medicalization of the birth process in developing countries would progress, not always to the benefit of mothers and children.
It made me hungry to learn more about how birth in the US and other places IS changing, and how I can be part of that as a new doula. It also made me hungry to learn more about other traditional cultural practices, particularly from my own Chinese and SE Asian culture. I know some about postpartum practices of confinement, but much less about the birthing process itself. My assumption is that in most Asian countries today, birth is highly medicalized and rates of cesarians etc. rival the US, but it made me hungry to know more.
June 19, 2018
Fantastic beginner to studying anthropology of birth. This book really created a base for other birth studies to start taking place. It definitely does a good job of giving anecdotes to talk about larger ideas, ie a doctor writing down notes for a midwife who was illiterate, and when questioned saying the midwife would, "need it written down for later."
July 29, 2019
I skimmed the more technical anthropology parts of this book, but really enjoyed the descriptions of Mayan birth practices and the descriptions of how birth practices differ in the US, Sweden and Holland. Some of the descriptions are obviously a bit dated, but it's interesting reading regardless. Also make me very happy not to be giving birth in a US hospital circa 1975.
June 17, 2020
Fascinating Read
Not only is this a great book for midwives and medical professionals involved in birthing, but it is also a great read for an insight into Western learning v. apprenticeship learning. I've never been a big supporter of institutional learning and this book provides backup to my beliefs. Learning through doing always supersedes learning through discussion.
Not only is this a great book for midwives and medical professionals involved in birthing, but it is also a great read for an insight into Western learning v. apprenticeship learning. I've never been a big supporter of institutional learning and this book provides backup to my beliefs. Learning through doing always supersedes learning through discussion.
October 2, 2017
I read half of this and skimmed the rest to see if it would be appropriate for my multiculturalism course. Currently a strong contender, though with globalization and increasing medicalization of births, some specifics are likely outdated compared to 40 years ago.
May 15, 2019
A look at birth in four different cultures, the challenges, the norms. Good for the US to learn more from other cultures. I found the Yucatan section esp fascinating for the practices of what midwives do in very rural areas.
September 14, 2022
A really interesting study of birth in different cultures. The descriptions of births and relationships surrounding birthing are fascinating, but ultimately only include one culture that I would consider non-westernized. It would be nice to see more nations represented.
May 7, 2020
Read this book for an anthropology class sometime in grad school. Liked it!!!
February 18, 2010
The first and last chapters get 5 stars. The detailed description of Yucatacan births and midwifery is gripping, and the thoughtful discussion of anthropological field work should be a whole book of its own.
The rest of the book is a 2.5 star so-so masters' thesis, about how little attention has been paid to birth practices in the world because 1. most anthropologists are men, 2. and men are not interested in birth and 3. even if they were, who is going to let a strange man participate in their birth? And even though the title claims this is a "crosscultural investigation," we're never shown any actual births in America, Sweden or Holland. A pretty big lacuna there.
Jordan's most interesting point is that birth is a universal human biological event but that cultural definitions shape our experiences with birth more than our physiology does. She says that our culture so overpowers the biology of birth that the physical (culturally informed) symptoms of labor might be mutually unrecognizable in different culture. In other words, a Mayan woman laboring at 7 centimeters dilation might in no way resemble her Dutch or American counterpart.
Her other interesting point-- we use "data" to support our opinions. Our opinions don't arise from data, although that is what we tell ourselves. She illustrates this with her discussion of American obstetrics. Medical practices (like routine episiotomies or enemas augmentation of labor) have been known since the 1940s to be at worst dangerous or at best not beneficial in normal labor. However only once the cultural bias shifted away from medically managed birth towards "natural birth" was that data marshalled as evidence for the new "right" way of doing things.
I hope this book was just the first baby step (first labor pains?) in a huge lifelong anthropological project about describing the "biosocial performance" that is birth in many cultures.
The rest of the book is a 2.5 star so-so masters' thesis, about how little attention has been paid to birth practices in the world because 1. most anthropologists are men, 2. and men are not interested in birth and 3. even if they were, who is going to let a strange man participate in their birth? And even though the title claims this is a "crosscultural investigation," we're never shown any actual births in America, Sweden or Holland. A pretty big lacuna there.
Jordan's most interesting point is that birth is a universal human biological event but that cultural definitions shape our experiences with birth more than our physiology does. She says that our culture so overpowers the biology of birth that the physical (culturally informed) symptoms of labor might be mutually unrecognizable in different culture. In other words, a Mayan woman laboring at 7 centimeters dilation might in no way resemble her Dutch or American counterpart.
Her other interesting point-- we use "data" to support our opinions. Our opinions don't arise from data, although that is what we tell ourselves. She illustrates this with her discussion of American obstetrics. Medical practices (like routine episiotomies or enemas augmentation of labor) have been known since the 1940s to be at worst dangerous or at best not beneficial in normal labor. However only once the cultural bias shifted away from medically managed birth towards "natural birth" was that data marshalled as evidence for the new "right" way of doing things.
I hope this book was just the first baby step (first labor pains?) in a huge lifelong anthropological project about describing the "biosocial performance" that is birth in many cultures.
January 10, 2014
The title is a bit misleading, as Yucatan births are discussed the most, while the others are used as a comparison in another chapter. Probably the most depressing thing about this book was how, even though it was written in the 1970s, there was evidence that a doula, or even a silent observer, can improve birth outcomes. Hospital practices and evidence-based practices are and have been two different things for over forty years! I think some things have changed since this book was written--for instance, there isn't a separate delivery room that women need to be moved into in hospitals these days, but at the same time, hardly anything has changed.
The chapter where Jordan described a birth in the US where the doctor talked to the laboring woman through the nurse (and had to give permission for her to start pushing) was really sad to me. How does a woman have no authoritative knowledge over her own body/birth? I hope the doctor attending my birth talks to me and over me.
There was some information about how teaching Western birth practices to Yucatanean midwives wasn't all that helpful (other than telling them what they "should" be doing), which I didn't find quite as relevant to my interests, but I still read it, being a student of the social sciences. This book is somewhat dated, but feels historically relevant, and provides a review of good anthropology practices (interviewing is insufficient!).
The chapter where Jordan described a birth in the US where the doctor talked to the laboring woman through the nurse (and had to give permission for her to start pushing) was really sad to me. How does a woman have no authoritative knowledge over her own body/birth? I hope the doctor attending my birth talks to me and over me.
There was some information about how teaching Western birth practices to Yucatanean midwives wasn't all that helpful (other than telling them what they "should" be doing), which I didn't find quite as relevant to my interests, but I still read it, being a student of the social sciences. This book is somewhat dated, but feels historically relevant, and provides a review of good anthropology practices (interviewing is insufficient!).
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July 6, 2012As a young female of reproductive age, it seems funny that most of what I know about pregnancy and birth comes from a)my anthropology classes and b)Hollywood films. Meaning that I have a decent grasp on how it's done among hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari, but absolutely no idea what goes on in the American obstetrics ward where I might someday find myself. As a result, the idea of giving birth in a hammock inside a hut in the jungle was no more surprising or terrifying to me than..."They stick needles in your uterus and tubes up your--and then the physician puts a finger WHERE?" All while under the influence of an average 7 different drugs and the highest level of pain a human can register.
On the other hand, I was equally surprised to discover that it is possible for birth to go pretty smoothly. To be short and low-pain on a relative scale. To be a normal, not pathological, part of a woman's life. The reason for my reaction, as Jordon points out, is that we don't talk about birth or what it's really like in my culture. Turns out there are a lot of ways to think about this universal process.
I would recommend Chapter 3 for the mildly interested reader. Good old anthropology, generating more and more surprises.
On the other hand, I was equally surprised to discover that it is possible for birth to go pretty smoothly. To be short and low-pain on a relative scale. To be a normal, not pathological, part of a woman's life. The reason for my reaction, as Jordon points out, is that we don't talk about birth or what it's really like in my culture. Turns out there are a lot of ways to think about this universal process.
I would recommend Chapter 3 for the mildly interested reader. Good old anthropology, generating more and more surprises.
August 30, 2013
Truly, a fascinating book. What started out as a comparative anthropological study of birth in different cultures by a grad student, Brigitte Jordan, has proved to open the discussion on traditional and medical birth and the pros and cons that go along with the differing systems.
See my review on my blog: http://assertionsofahousewife.blogspo...
See my review on my blog: http://assertionsofahousewife.blogspo...
June 9, 2012
This was my first birth book purchase after having become interested from online reading. Great book for anyone just getting interested and curious how birth around the world differs from the U.S.'s approach.
January 17, 2024
Seminal. My second time reading this book, and it’s no less interesting. A must read for any sceptics of the medical model of childbirth or those seeking to understand how and why clearly damaging behaviours continue to go unchallenged while women and babies suffer. 10/10
May 16, 2007
You'll never think of a hospital's maternity ward the same again. Brilliant. The cross-cultural analysis is superb and intriguing.
October 2, 2008
Fantastic--though in need of another more current analysis to be read back to back--that would be perfect.
June 18, 2009
Not a fan of anthropology, but definitely a fan of feminist critiques of American birth practices.
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September 18, 2010The first non-blog thing I read about childbirth. Made me want moooore
June 7, 2011
Read for "Anthropology of Infancy" Summer 2012.
August 16, 2012
really interesting and informative. gross in a good way, IIRC
March 27, 2013
One of my favorites
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews