Christine

“Spanish speakers will already have noted that recogiado is really not a word. However, we must remember that these villagers are Quechua speakers and at times unknown Spanish words are heard in such a way that people can make sense of them. Prior to the political violence, there were no refugees (refugiados) in the highlands. Certainly people moved about, and not always of their own volition. However, the category ‘‘refugiado’’ was a product of the war: the term figured in the state discourse, that of the soldiers and on the radio. ‘‘Refugiados’’ was heard as ‘‘recogiados,’’ making sense both of the word as well as its meaning.31 Recoger – to gather up, to take in, to shelter. Precisely what villagers were doing with the arrepentidos. ‘‘Recogiados [the gathered up ones, the taken in ones, the sheltered ones] and others’’ were in fact those who had come from other places seeking refuge; they were also those unnamed people who came in search of redemption.”
― Kimberly Theidon

“Our moral values, our emotions, our loves are no less real for being part of nature, for being shared with the animal world, or for being determined by the evolution which our species has undergone over millions of years. Rather, they are more valuable as a result of this: they are real. They are the complex reality of which we are made. Our reality is tears and laughter, gratitude and altruism, loyalty and betrayal, the past which haunts us and serenity.”
― Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

“Women who are upset about their birth experiences but who did not write birth plans often say, "If only I had known" or "If only I had prepared." In contrast, mothers who prepare for a natural birth and write birth plans but end up with necessary interventions do not have to blame themselves for lack of preparation. They are free to mourn without self-recrimination.”
― Cynthia Gabriel, Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds

“The techno-medical model of maternity care, unlike the midwifery model, is comparatively new on the world scene, having existed for barely two centuries. This male-derived framework for care is a product of the industrial revolution. As anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd has described in detail, underlying the technocratic mode of care of our own time is an assumption that the human body is a machine and that the female body in particular is a machine full of shortcomings and defects. Pregnancy and labor are seen as illnesses, which, in order not to be harmful to mother or baby, must be treated with drugs and medical equipment. Within the techno-medical model of birth, some medical intervention is considered necessary for every birth, and birth is safe only in retrospect.”
― Ina May Gaskin, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth