The Technocratic, Humanistic, and Holistic Paradigms of Childbirth
The Technocratic, Humanistic, and Holistic Paradigms of Childbirth by Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD This article appears in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vol 75,Supplement No. 1, pp. S5-S23, November 2001. Abstract: This article describes three paradigms of health care that heavily influence contemporary childbirth, most particularly in the West, but increasingly around the world: the technocratic, humanistic, and holistic models of medicine. These models differ...
Read MoreBIRTH AND THE BIG BAD WOLF: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
BIRTH AND THE BIG BAD WOLF: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE[i] Robbie Davis-Floyd and Melissa Cheyney This chapter appears in Childbirth across Cultures: Ideas and Practices of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Postpartum , edited by Helaine Selin and Pamela K. Stone, Springer 2009, pp. 1-22. Once upon a time, there were six little pigs who set out to seek their fortunes in the world (okay, we know that in the original story there were only three, but just bear with us here!). Far away from...
Read MoreWAYS OF KNOWING: OPEN AND CLOSED SYSTEMS
WAYS OF KNOWING: OPEN AND CLOSED SYSTEMS Robbie Davis-Floyd This article was published in Midwifery Today 69 (Spring): 9-13, 2004. Copyright is held both by Midwifery Today and by Robbie Davis-Floyd. Both give permission for the replication of this article for educational purposes. This special issue of Midwifery Today focuses on midwifery knowledge. The following articles in it will address the specifics of this body of knowledge. But first, it is important to take...
Read MoreHome Birth Emergencies in the U.S. and Mexico:
Home Birth Emergencies in theU.S.andMexico: The Trouble with Transport Robbie Davis-Floyd Ph.D. This article appears in a special issue of Social Science and Medicine, called Reproduction Gone Awry, edited by Marcia Inhorn and Gwynne Jenkins, Vol. 56, No. 9, 2003, pp. 1913-1931. Abstract: Proponents of the global Safe Motherhood Initiative stress that primary keys to safe home birth include transport to the hospital in cases of need and effective care on arrival. In this...
Read MoreHome Birth Emergencies in the United States: The Trouble with Transport
Home Birth Emergencies in the United States: The Trouble with Transport Robbie E. Davis-Floyd This article appears as Chapter 22 in Unhealthy Health Policy: A Critical Anthropological Examination, eds. Arachu Castro and Merrill Singer.AltamiraPress, pp. 329-350, 2004. As proponents of the global Safe Motherhood Initiative have long stressed, in both the developing world where home birth is often a necessity, and the developed world where it is a choice, primary keys to...
Read MoreORAL HISTORIES FROM THE PIONEERS OF AMERICA’S SPACE PROGRAM
SPACE STORIES: ORAL HISTORIES FROM THE PIONEERS OF AMERICA‘S SPACE PROGRAM An Oral History Project conducted in conjunction with the Houston Chapter of the AIAA and Honeywell Corporation Interviewers: Dr. Robbie Davis-Floyd, Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin Dr. Kenneth J. Cox, NASA Johnson Space Center Interviewees: Guy Thibodaux, Maxime Faget, Paul Purser, Clotaire Wood, Josephine Dibella, Adelbert Tischler, Harry Finger, Chris...
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Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology and Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin, is a medical anthropologist specializing in the anthropology of reproduction. An international speaker and researcher, she is author of over 80 articles and of Birth as an American Rite of Passage (1992, 2004); coauthor of From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey (1998); and coeditor of ten collections, including Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (1997); Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots (1998); and Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change (2006). Her latest is Birth Models That Work (2009), an edited collection highlighting excellent models of birth care around the world. This collection will be followed by Volume II: Birth Models on the Global Edge, coedited with Betty-Anne Daviss (forthcoming 2012). Her research on global trends and transformations in childbirth, obstetrics, and midwifery is ongoing. Robbie currently also serves as Editor for the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI) and Board Member of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO).