Making midwives: postmodern conditions and midwifery training in Saint Lucia.
Drawing on material from fieldwork conducted on the island of Saint Lucia, I examine how Saint Lucian nurse-midwives and student midwives negotiate multiple ways of understanding and evaluating their practices and roles in light of contradictory and powerful cultural, historical, and political forces. I argue that, although Saint Lucian nurse-midwives may not qualify as "postmodern" according to the criteria proposed by Davis-Floyd and Davis (1996), they are nonetheless struggling with postmodern conditions as they negotiate between competing healing ideologies. I illustrate the significance of these negotiations through analyzing: (1) the ways nurse-midwives understand and articulate the healing ideologies at play in Saint Lucia, (2) historical and ideological aspects of the Saint Lucian nurse-midwifery training program, and (3) a classroom discussion during which student reported on "bush-midwives."
Hsu
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Group Health Community Foundation in Seattle, Washington, USA.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D020811:Biomedical Technology; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education* / Q000639:trends; D011247:Pregnancy; D011361:Professional Competence; D012424:Rural Population; D019431:Saint Lucia; D014505:Urban Population