Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Indeed, the skill ill befits men (haec enim ars viros dedecet)
Portuguese-born Hamburg Physician Rodrigo a Castro, 1604(T)here is naturally much important and valuable information a midwifery instructor must teach his students.
Friedrich Kirstein, Leitfaden für den Hebammen Unterricht (1912)In presenting this content, all of the textbook authors agree that a midwife today is much more than simply a set of hands, and requires knowledge that goes beyond rudimentary instruction. Her job is not a dying art the way it is sometime supposed here and abroad. Where there are no midwives, such as in the United States, the midwife's responsibilities are performed by nurses who have not necessarily undertaken any specialized examination in the subject. As publications and personal conversations have demonstrated, this is simply not as good as having a professionally trained birth assistant.
Wichard von Massenbach et al. (eds), Hebammenlehrbuch (1962)Women Do It but Men Teach It?
Throughout history and across the globe many have regarded midwives as protectors of natural knowledge, defined in this context as an intuitive understanding of a woman's body rhythms and functions. According to this view, midwives are granted expert status because they themselves are women, and in most cases have already given birth to their own children. Through this experiential training and intuitive familiarity, the midwife garners trust from labouring women and her community alike. She becomes the community's birthing authority, taking on the responsibility of assisting pregnant women through labour, as well as various stages of the prenatal and postpartum experience. The midwife becomes a ‘wisewoman’, symbolizing an image of the procreative process as a women-centred, holistic and above all else natural event.
In contrast to such wise women are male medical intellectuals, ‘medicalmen’. Read from a Western-centric viewpoint, these medical men originated in Europe, later spreading via imperialism to the American colonies and elsewhere.
- Type
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- Information
- Modern German Midwifery, 1885–1960 , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014