LANDLADY AT LA GRANGE: THE FOLKLORE OF A TEXAS MADAM1 Robbie Davis-Floyd This article was originally published in the Journal of American Folklore 86(41):212-224, July-September 1973. This version has been revised and updated for publication on this website, as an important piece of Texana, and to preserve a record of the very woman-centered way in which Miss Edna ran her establishment, the Chicken Ranch inLa...
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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).