| Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk: Fertility and Danger in West Central Tanzania Contributor(s): Allen, Denise (Author) |
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ISBN: 0472030272 ISBN-13: 9780472030279 Publisher: University of Michigan Press OUR PRICE: $31.63 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2004 Annotation: ." . . an important contribution both to studies of women's health and to critiques of development. . . . [Allen's] work among the Sukuma of Shinyanga provides a rich and vivid picture of the circumstances women face from pregnancy through childbirth. . . . Weaving together first-hand observationso with personal stories, and systematically examining the risks associated with childbirth, Allen constructs a very powerful and often-harrowing account of the experiences of childbearing women. . . . Allen's work does much to challenge the assumptions embedded in international development interventions aimed at 'Third World' women." --Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute This rich and engaging ethnography of women's fertility-related experiences in rural Tanzania highlights the processes by which a set of seemingly well-intentioned, international maternal health policy recommendations break down when implemented at the local level. Based on twenty-two months of fieldwork in the Shinyanga Region of west-central Tanzania, "Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk explores how maternal health risks have been defined and addressed at the global, national, and local levels. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika, and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative, Denise Roth Allen explores the similarities in the language used and solutions proposed by health development experts over time. The case studies presented throughout the second half of the book reveal that the concept of risk in the context of pregnancy and childbirth is extremelycomplex, involving the interplay of spiritual, physical, and economic aspects of everyday life. "Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk employs an innovative approach to the analysis of maternal health risk, one that situates rural Tanzanian women's fertility-related experiences within a broader historical and sociocultural context. It will be of interest to a variety of audiences, including individuals pursuing advanced study in medical and socio-cultural anthropology, development studies, public and international health, African studies, women and gender studies, and demography. Denise Roth Allen is Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, Pregnancy and Infant Health Branch of the Division of Reproductive Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Medical | Health Risk Assessment - Medical | Gynecology & Obstetrics - Health & Fitness | Women's Health - General |
| Dewey: 304.632 |
| LCCN: 2005270118 |
| Physical Information: 0.95" H x 5.98" W x 9.02" (1.09 lbs) 303 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk, Denise Roth Allen persuasively argues that development interventions in the Third World often have unintended and unacknowledged consequences. Based on twenty-two months of fieldwork in the Shinyanga Region of west central Tanzania, this rich and engaging ethnography of women's fertility-related experiences highlights the processes by which a set of seemingly well-intentioned international maternal health policy recommendations go awry when implemented at the local level. An exploration of how threats to maternal health have been defined and addressed at the global, national, and local levels, Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk presents two contrasting, and oftentimes competing, definitions of risk: those that form the basis of international recommendations and national maternal health policies and those that do not. The effect that these contrasting definitions of risk have on women's fertility-related experiences at the local level are explored throughout the book. This study employs an innovative approach to the analysis of maternal health risk, one that situates rural Tanzanian women's fertility-related experiences within a broader historical and sociocultural context. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative that was launched on the world stage in the late 1980s, the author explores the similarities in the language used and solutions proposed by health development experts over time. This set of "official" maternal health risks is then compared to an alternative set of risks that emerge when attention is focused on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth at the local level. Although some of these latter risks are often spoken about as deriving from spiritual or supernatural causes, the case studies presented throughout the second half of the book reveal that the concept of risk in the context of pregnancy and childbirth is much more complex, involving the interplay of spiritual, physical, and economic aspects of everyday life. |