What is an anthropology of childbirth? Perhaps we can say that an anthropology of childbirth is the study of childbirth in human populations.
Anthropologists had only studied childbirth in different cultures to a limited extend until Margaret Mead and psychologist Niles Newton in 1967 conducted a survey to assess childbirth practices cross-culturally. Their survey found that available data on the topic was limited, so they proclaimed a need for quality birth ethnographies in anthropology.
Brigitte Jordan published an ethnographic account of childbirth titled Birth in Four Cultures: A Cross-cultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States in 1978. Her work emphasised the idea that, although birth is a biological process it is also clearly "everywhere socially marked and shaped" (1997: 1).
The book on Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives published in 1997, saw Robbie Davis-Floyd and Carolyn Sargent call for anthropologists to gather women's birth narratives for their valuable insight into the language women use to describe their birth experiences (1997: 12).
The book on Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives published in 1997, saw Robbie Davis-Floyd and Carolyn Sargent call for anthropologists to gather women's birth narratives for their valuable insight into the language women use to describe their birth experiences (1997: 12).