By us, not for us: Black women researching pregnancy and childbirth

Oparah, Julia Chinyere; Salahuddin, Fatimah; Cato, Ronnesha; Jones, Linda; Oseguera, Talita; Matthews, Shanelle

doi:10.51952/9781447324645.ch011

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…While these efforts did lead to some shifts and improvements in maternal health care practices (particularly in highly resourced settings), birthers nonetheless continued to report distressing and traumatic birth experiences across a wide range of transnational contexts. It is these persistent cries of distress that have necessitated the shift to the more provocative terminology of “obstetric violence” and the demand for justice in the sphere of birth and reproductive health care (Oparah & Bonaparte, 2016).…”

Section: Minimizing the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dangers of Minimizing Obstetric Violence

Chadwick

2021

Violence Against Women

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This commentary is a response to the article by Lappaman and Swartz, “How gentle must violence against women be in order not to be violent?” in which the term “obstetric violence” is critiqued. The authors argue that the term is harmful and does violence (to health care workers and even birthers themselves) and is not helpful to efforts to improve or reform maternity care. They suggest that we abandon the term and use less inflammatory descriptions (i.e., such as “mistreatment”) instead. While recognizing the inevitable risks involved in naming and writing about obstetric violence, I argue that these risks are necessary in the interests of struggling against unjust systems. I unpack the authors' critique and argue that it ultimately works to minimize experiences of obstetric violence, silence the voices of those that have been speaking out on this issue for a very long time, and casts doubt on the legitimacy of a concept that has only recently received global recognition (after a long and transnational struggle). These harms and dangers are not necessarily the direct intentions of the authors but are embedded in wider structures of power that are often incredulous, disbelieving, and dismissive in the face of testimonies and evidence of gendered and racialized pain/violence.

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Section: Minimizing the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dangers of Minimizing Obstetric Violence

Chadwick

2021

Violence Against Women

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“…Thank you for the question and this opportunity to clarify our premise. The predominance of White midwives in the United States comes as a direct consequence of historic systematic exclusion of Black midwives that continues today 1–4 . The lack of racial and ethnic diversity and representation among health care providers is a major contributor to health care system distrust among Black communities 5–10 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lack of racial and ethnic diversity and representation among health care providers is a major contributor to health care system distrust among Black communities 5–10 . The letter's author suggests that an injustice has been done to White midwives by contextualizing this history and being responsive to Black birthing communities that sought to feel safe with providers who look like them 4,5,8,11–16 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The predominance of White midwives in the United States comes as a direct consequence of historic systematic exclusion of Black midwives that continues today. [1][2][3][4] The lack of racial and ethnic diversity and representation among health care providers is a major contributor to health care system distrust among Black communities. [5][6][7][8][9][10] The letter's author suggests that an injustice has been done to White midwives by contextualizing this history and being responsive to Black birthing communities that sought to feel safe with providers who look like them.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] The letter's author suggests that an injustice has been done to White midwives by contextualizing this history and being responsive to Black birthing communities that sought to feel safe with providers who look like them. 4,5,8,[11][12][13][14][15][16] Our work contributes to a robust body of research indicating that Black birthing people often receive a lower quality of care and report not feeling respected by clinicians, including White certified nurse-midwives/certified midwives. [17][18][19][20] It is uncomfortable for White midwives, including one of us (Liese), to acknowledge that while serving women "across the spectrum of racial and ethnic identity," we may have also said or done things that contributed to distrust in our melanated patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reply to: Comment on Melanated Group Midwifery Care: Centering the Voices of the Black Birthing Community

Liese

Stewart

Pearson

et al. 2023

J Midwife Womens Health

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Uneven reproduction: Gender, race, class, and birth outcomes

Davis

2023

Feminist Anthropology

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In the United States adverse reproductive outcomes are often understood in terms of Black and White differentials within the context of US‐centric racism and as an afterlife of slavery. Yet similar racial variances in outcomes are found globally. How might we understand the persistence of adverse reproductive outcomes among Black women compared to White women in transnational contexts? Building on the concept of uneven development, this article uses the framework of uneven reproduction as one way to examine how inequalities are seared on reproducing bodies. Such framing shifts the analysis of adverse reproductive outcomes from a narrow view of racial disparities to one that explains those outcomes because of complex patterns of investment and disinvestment that reconfigure reproduction. In framing reproductive outcomes as uneven reproduction, this paper excavates three distinct historical cases in three geographic areas. Drawing from imperial and colonial contexts we can track different forms of disinvestment that were and continue to be detrimental to Black women.This approach serves as a lens against which to read the persistent racial differentials in reproductive outcomes facilitated by a transhistorical, transnational and intersectional understanding of the constraints that impede Black women's successful reproduction over time and across space.

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By us, not for us: Black women researching pregnancy and childbirth

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The Dangers of Minimizing Obstetric Violence

The Dangers of Minimizing Obstetric Violence

Reply to: Comment on Melanated Group Midwifery Care: Centering the Voices of the Black Birthing Community

Uneven reproduction: Gender, race, class, and birth outcomes

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