SPEAKING TOPICS

Robbie Davis-Floyd can create exciting seminars and talks about a multitude of topics. Below is a sampling of talks she has given.

Descriptions of Talks on Childbirth, Obstetrics, and Midwifery

 Following are descriptions of some of the talks I have prepared. I am also happy to tailor/create talks as needed.

Birth Models That Work

Much social science and midwifery literature heavily critiques the obstetrical treatment of birth. Taking a more positive and constructive approach, this presentation describes “birth models that work”—a phrase that is intended to include models of both education and practice. The talk first presents the common characteristics of “birth models that work” and then proceeds to identify and describe a number of such optimal birth models from countries as diverse as Canada, the U.S., the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, the Phillippines, and Samoa.

The International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative: 10 Steps to Optimal Maternity Services

In March of 2008, The International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO) (formerly the CIMS International Committee) launched the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI): 10 Steps to Optimal Maternity Services. The IMBCI addresses the needs of all nations and birthing women for evidence-based and humanistic improvements in the quality of maternity care. It calls global attention to the importance of the quality of the mother's birth experience and its impact on the outcome, the risks to mother and baby from inappropriate medical interventions, and the scientific evidence showing the benefits of MotherBaby-centered care based on the normal physiology of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding and on attention to women's individual needs. The IMBCI aims to put into worldwide awareness and practice the MotherBaby Model of Care--a woman-centered, non-interventive approach that promotes the health and wellbeing of all women and babies during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, setting the global gold standard for excellence and superior outcomes in maternity care. I am a Board member of IMBCO and have served as Editor for the IMBCI since its inception. In this talk I present the 10 Steps of the IMBCI and describe its history and development and our ongoing work to promote and implement it worldwide.

Changing Childbirth in Latin America

A new generation of childbirth activists in Latin America is making significant changes, even in countries with astronomically high cesarean rates. I have observed the development of the movement to humanize birth in ten Latin American countries over the past three years and have identified 21 essential ingredients that Latin American birth activists are utilizing to create national social movements to humanize birth.

Birth across Cultures: An Evolutionary Perspective

This workshop presents a broad overview of the human cultural evolution and midwives' role in that process. We explore cross-cultural birth practices in all 6 types of human subsistence strategies (hunting-gathering, horticulture, agriculture, pastoralism, industrial society, and the technocracy), noting premodern similarities across vast cultural differences and examining the homogenizing effects of modernization. In the afternoon we will look at postmodern midwives as they struggle to define their identities and roles in a rapidly changing world.

Daughter of Time: The Postmodern Midwife

In this presentation, I describe "the postmodern midwife" as one who takes an informed and relativistic approach to different ways of knowing about birth and who can invent ways to make discrepant systems complementary. Recognizing the limitations and strengths of the biomedical system and of her own, the postmodern midwife moves fluidly between them to serve the women she attends. She is a shape-shifter--she knows how to work to change the medical system while appearing to comply with it; a bridge-builder, making alliances with biomedicine where possible and building connections between traditional and professional midwives; and a networker. When possible she attends conferences and meetings, making connections with other midwives in other parts of the world, increasing her ability to translate between systems, and gaining consciousness of midwifery as a global movement. Through her interlinkages with other midwives around the world, she works to create a global and increasingly shared culture of midwifery as well as to preserve, carry forward, and teach to others in her own and other cultures the best of her own cultural traditions around birth.

Global Trends in Midwifery

This talk describes 10 global trends in midwifery, focusing on midwives’ efforts to redefine themselves in the postmodern technocratic world.

Ritual in the Hospital: Giving Birth the American Way

Why do 80% of birthing women in the United States today give birth under epidural anesthesia? Why are one-third of American women delivered by Cesarean section? Why are the labors of the vast majority of women artificially induced or augmented? Why do so few American women choose to birth outside the hospital? Is birth really all that dangerous, or is there something else going on?

This presentation offers an anthropological explanation for the massive overuse of obstetric technology and women’s widespread acceptance of it. I analyze obstetrical procedures (such as electronic fetal monitoring, the IV, pitocin augmentation, episiotomy) as rituals that enact the core values of American society. Routine obstetrical procedures convey symbolic messages about the mechanicity of the body, the separateness of the mind, and the cultural supervaluation of high technology to parents, babies, and practitioners as they go through the rite of passage called birth--which is, in effect, a rite of initiation into the belief and value system of the technocracy. The alternative rituals of holistic birth enact a belief and value system radically different from the technocratic paradigm dominant in the hospital and in society at large, one that will remain in the cultural margins unless massive culture change occurs.

Birth as an American Rite of Passage Revisited

My first book, Birth as an American Rite of Passage, has become a “classic” and a “must-read” in childbirth studies. Since its original publication in 1992, much has happened in American birthways—much has changed, and more has remained the same. This presentation will examine my original findings about women’s birth experiences and choices in light of these recent changes, most especially the rising cesarean rate. My focus will on women’s wishes and desires for childbirth and their relationship to cultural core values.

The Technocratic, Humanistic and Holistic Models of Birth and Health Care

What is a paradigm and why does it matter? How does each paradigm define the human body, and how does this definition affect the kind of health care you give and receive? How can we find ways to treat birth humanistically and holistically in an increasingly technocratic world? This talk presents the results of an anthropological study (carried out by Robbie Davis-Floyd and Gloria St. John) of models of health care and of the paradigm shift made by increasing numbers of health care practitioners. The presentation begins with a description of three major paradigms of healing available today--the technocratic, humanistic, and holistic models of medicine. The profound differences in belief, practice, and worldview among practitioners of each of these three paradigms are delineated, so that birth practitioners can understand the consistency of these models and evaluate their own choices in terms of where they wish to stand on this spectrum.

The ability to identify which paradigm a given practitioner or client is operating under gives the maternity care practitioner a set of tools she can use to communicate with that practitioner or client. Understanding the subtle differences between humanistic and holistic practitioners can be of great use, as what is easily understandable and workable to a holistic practitioner may be well outside the tolerance range of the humanist (and completely unacceptable to the technocrat). Maternity care practitioners should be aware that a major catalyst for a given practitioner’s (or client’s) paradigm shift is often direct exposure to alternative systems. Additionally, practitioners can use the information in this workshop for self-evaluation and introspection: are they practicing under the paradigm they choose?

Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots

As our cultural evolutionary process increasingly intertwines humans and the technology they create, we are rapidly becoming post-human cyborgs—fusions of humans and machines. This process of cyborgification begins in the womb with multiple new reproductive technologies, intensifies during birth, and marks early childhood. In this talk I examine this process and its meaning for the human future.

Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change

This talk is based on the results of my ten years of research on American midwifery, published by Routledge in Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change (2006). The talk describes the development of nurse- and direct-entry midwifery in the United States, focusing on the creation of two new direct-entry certifications, the Certified Midwife and the Certified Professional Midwife, and examines the complexities, political strife, and efforts at resolution that have characterized the evolution of midwifery in America. Other topics include successful legislative strategies, the tensions between the social activist midwifery movement and midwives’ professionalization projects, and “renegade” midwives who practice outside of state protocols. The conclusion describes barriers to the growth and prospering of American midwifery and efforts to overcome them, focusing deeply on why midwives matter to American birthgiving women and arguing that midwives should be the primary caregivers in this country for pregnancy and birth.

Renegade Midwives: Asset or Liability?

As direct-entry midwives continue to work for and succeed in obtaining legalization and licensure in their states, the issue of renegade midwives becomes more and more salient. Definitions of “renegade” include “one who rejects a cause, allegiance, or group for another” and “outlaw, rebel.” Renegade midwives generally reject allegiance to the professionalization project of direct-entry midwifery (licensure, regulation, following protocols) in favor of allegiance to the birthing mother and her desires. In so doing, renegades both jeopardize the status of DEMs in their states, and provide options for birthing women that DEMs who follow state protocols cannot provide. This presentation will analyze the complex issues and challenges provided to midwives in America by the existence and practice of these “renegades.”

Why Midwives Matter

This inspirational talk explains why midwives matter so much to the quality and future of maternity care.

ALL-DAY OR HALF-DAY WORKSHOPS

The Anthropology of Midwifery, Obstetrics, and Birth 

Want a whole college course in a day? This talk takes an evolutionary perspective on the cultural treatment of human childbirth, exploring cross-cultural birth practices in all six types of human subsistence strategies (hunting-gathering, horticulture, agriculture, pastoralism, industrial society, and the technocracy), noting premodern similarities across vast cultural differences, examining the homogenizing effects of modernization, and exploring the possibilities of a postmodern mentality for improving the technocratic treatment of birth.

The Anthropology of Reproduction

This workshop offers an overview of the exciting sub-discipline of the anthropology of reproduction from its early beginnings to its latest findings, concentrating on concentrate on anthropological studies in four major areas: childbirth, midwifery, the new reproductive technologies, and the politics of nation-states as they play out on women’s bodies and affect women’s reproductive lives. I will describe the transnational and individual effects of the spread of the new reproductive technologies, and the increasing cyborgification of the entire reproductive process. My goal is to provide a stimulating overview of this anthropological subdiscipline for those who want to know what reproductive social scientists are up to. I accompany that overview with an extensive annotated bibliography that will provide a helpful template for further exploration and research.