ONLINE PAPERS ON MAYAN MIDWIFERY:
" In 1977, Mary Elmendorf, with the collaboration of Alfonso Villa Rojas of Mexico, began the project titled 'Behavior among Mayan Women.' The project was sponsored by the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) and funded by the Office of Population, Bureau for Development Support, Agency for International Development (AID). The ultimate purpose of the study was to detail how the Mayan women of Chan Kom view family planning and how they handle the cultural constraints and supports..."
The Management of Reproduction and the Politics of Midwifery
Practice in a Tzeltal (Mayan) Speaking Community, by Michelle
M. Day (Masters Thesis, University of Chicago). PDF
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"This thesis seeks to explore the dynamics of conflict pertaining to many reproductive events that relate directly to much broader social issues involving power asymmetries and the politics of health and healing in this community. Pregnancy in Aguacatenango is perceived to be a serious illness, and childbirth is considered a dangerous medical event. Reproductive events are frequently characterized by considerable strife and conflict over what constitutes proper care, while they simultaneously serve to reproduce and maintain certain hierarchies of power in social relations..."
The Midwife or the Knife: The Discourse of Childbirth by Cesarean in Merida, Yucatan, by Marcia Good Maust
"I went to Merida with the objective of listening to--and documenting through ethnography--the discourse of childbirth in the words of women, their families, birth attendants, health planners, and doctors. Many themes run through these discourses. These include the changing roles of midwives, the location of birth, the presence of husband or family members during birth, fertility control through tubal ligations or IUDs, the importance of sobadas/massage for pre-natal care, and many others. A predominant theme I had not anticipated was the prevalence of talk about cesareans..."
(Currently unavailable online. Instead, check out her dissertation at UMI)
MIDWIFERY MOVEMENT AT HOME AND ABROAD:
On the "Gaskin Maneuver":
"A New (Old) Maneuver for the Management of Shoulder Dystocia" by Anna L. Meenan, MD, Ina May Gaskin, MA, Pamela Hunt, and Charles A. Ball, MD
"...The inspiration for the use of the all-fours maneuver in this case, which was managed by the principal author, came from an informal article written by Ina May Gaskin on the results of a previously unpublished series of shoulder dystocias in which the maneuver had proven to be extremely effective. This case series was accumulated by a group of direct-entry midwives at the Farm Midwifery Center, Summertown, Tennessee, who learned the maneuver from Ms. Gaskin, director of the birth center. She had, in turn, learned it from indigenous midwives while visiting the highlands of Guatemala in 1976..."
"...I became very interested in the exchange of international knowledge and techniques having to do with birth when as a young midwife I had a personal experience with shoulder dystocia. I ended up reading how to resolve it when I was right in the middle of a birth! It was Ina May Gaskin's description of a technique she had learned from Guatemalan midwives: simply have the woman turn onto her hands and knees. Now known as the Gaskin Maneuver, it may have saved this baby's life..."
International Mayan League Midwifery Project - Association of the Comadronas of the Mam Area Concepción Chiquirichapa, initiated in August 1999.
"The Association of the Comadronas of the Mam Area (ACAM) was formed in 1997 following the signing of the Dec. 29, 1996 Peace Accords which ended 36 years of genocidal civil war in Guatemala. Thirty midwives organized for education and mutual support and to gain political strength. They are the primary health care providers for women and children in this rural community where access to health care is limited and there is only one doctor for each 10,000 inhabitants. The goal of this project is to provide financial and material support to midwives in an area that has been historically neglected in terms of development aid."
More on the International Mayan League from Midwifery Today
"...Out of the deeply personal and moving exchanges in August and again in January grew a project to create some kind of partnership between the co-madronas of the Man area and midwives from the United States. The 'partners' project paired 15 midwives from Guatemala with 15 midwives in the States to obtain birth kits and supplies, which were delivered in March. I have received the names of seven more midwives who need partners..."
IXMUCANE:
Women's Health and Midwifery Project in Guatemala
"Ixmucane is a women's health and birth center in Antigua Guatemala in the state of Sacatepwquez, 30 miles from Guatemala City. It was It has been running since 1997 by midwives dedicated to improving women's reproductive health. Ixmucane is named for the Mayan Goddess of creation. She is called "the midwife of all midwives, grandmother of all grandmothers, vessel maker and alter keeper". We honor her by using her name for our center..."
Midwifery and Traditional Weaving Internships
"Thank you for your interest in Xela Aid's Midwifery and Traditional Weaving Internships. Xela Aid is a non-profit humanitarian organization operating in a Mám Maya region of Guatemala. We are happy to be able to assist you in doing an internship in midwifery or/and traditional Mayan weaving..."
Bibliography on Midwifery and Reproduction in Mexico and/or Mayan-speaking Communities
Browner, Carole H. 1986. "The Politics of Reproduction in a Mexican Village." Signs 12:710-724.
____. 1989. "The Management of Reproduction in an Egalitarian Society." In McClain, C. S. (ed.), pp. 58-71.Cosminsky, Sheila. 1982a. "Knowledge and Body Concepts of Guatemalan Midwives." In Anthropology of Human Birth, Kay, M. (ed.), pp. 233-252. Philadelphia: Davis.
____. 1983a "Traditional Midwifery and Contraception." In Traditional Medicine and Health Care Coverage, Bannerman, et al. (eds.), pp. 142-162. Geneva: World Health Organization.
____. 1983b. "Medicial Pluralism in Mesoamerica." In Heritage of Conquest: Thirty Years Later. Kendall, Hawkins and Bossen (eds.), pp. 159-173. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
____. 1994 [1982b]. "Childbirth and Change: A Guatemalan Study." In Ethnography of Fertility and Birth, MacCormack, C. (ed.), pp. 195-219. London: Academic Press.Faust, Betty B. 1988. "When is a Midwife a Witch? A Case Study From a Modernizing Maya Village." In Women and Health: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Whelehan, P. (ed.), pp. 21-39. Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc.
Freyermuth Enciso, Graciela. 1993. Médicos tradicionales y médicos alópatas: Un encuentro difícil en los Altos de Chiapas. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico: Talleres Gráficos del Estado, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social - Sureste.
Fuller, Nancy and Brigitte Jordan. 1981. "Maya Women and the End of the Birthing Period: Postpartum Massage-and-Binding in Yucatan, Mexico." Medical Anthropology, 5(1): 35-50.
Guiteras Holmes, Calixta. 1990. Cancuc: Etnografía de un pueblo Tzeltal de los Altos de Chiapas, 1944. Tuxtla Guitérrez, Chiapas, México: Instituto Chiapaneco de Cultura.
Jordan, Brigitte. 1993 [1978]. Birth in Four Cultures. Prospect Heights, Ill: Waveland Press.
____. 1989. "Cosmopolitical Obstetrics: Some Insights From the Training of Traditional Midwives." Social Science and Medicine 28: 925-944.Kelly, Isabel. 1956. "An Anthropological Approach to Midwifery Training in Mexico." Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 1:200-205.
Nash, June. 1970. In the Eyes of Our Ancestors: Belief and Behavior in a Mayan Community. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Newman, Lucile F. 1981. "Midwives and Modernization." Medical Anthropology 5(1):1-12.
Paul, Lois. 1974. "The Mastery of Work and the Mystery of Sex in a Guatemalan Village." In Rosaldo and Lamphere (eds.), pp. 281-299.
____. 1975. "Recruitment to a Ritual Role: The Midwife in a Maya Community." Ethos 6: 449-467.Paul, Lois and Benjamin D. Paul. 1975. "The Maya Midwife as a Sacred Specialist: A Guatemalan Case." American Ethnologist 2: 707-726.
Sargent, Carolyn and Grace Bascope. 1996. "Ways of Knowing about Birth in Three Cultures." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 10(2):213-236.
Sesia, Paola. M. 1996. "'Women Come Here on Their Own When They Need To': Prenatal Care, Authoritative Knowledge, and Maternal Health in Oaxaca." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 10(2):121-140.
Recent Dissertations on Midwifery and Birth in Mayan-speaking Communities:
COSMOLOGY AND CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES OF THE CAMPECHE MAYA, by Betty B. Faust
HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE AND BIRTH ATTENDANT CHOICE IN A YUCATEC MAYA COMMUNITY, by Lynnel Goforth
MAKING BODIES; CESAREAN NARRATIVES IN MERIDA, YUCATAN, by Good Maust, Marcia
SPIRITUAL EMBODIMENT IN A HIGHLAND MAYA COMMUNITY (on Guatemalan midwifery), by Servando Z. Hinojosa
CURING AND CURERS IN PISTE, YUCATAN, MEXICO, by Marianna Appel Kunow,
A billboard on the road out of town asking "Are You Pregnant?" and admonishing women to visit the local doctor at the "Rural Health Clinic" of Aguacatenango
©1996 Michelle Day
From the walls of the IMSS Clinic, Aguacatenango, Chiapas, Mexico
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