Obstetric violence within students� rite of passage: The reproduction of the obstetric subject and its racialised (m)other
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNISA Press
Abstract
Building on the work of Mbembe (2019) and Silva (2007), we theorise how the obstetric institution can still be
considered fundamentally modern, that is, entangled with colonialism, slavery, bio- and necropolitics and
patriarchal subjectivity. We argue that the modern obstetric subject (doctor or midwife) representing the
obstetric institution engulfs the (m)other in a typically modern way as othered, racialised, affectable and outerdetermined, in order to constitute itself in terms of self-determination and universal reason.
While Davis-Floyd (1987) described obstetric training as a rite of passage into a technocratic model of childbirth,
we argue that students� rite of passage is not merely an initiation into a technological model of childbirth. The many
instances of obstetric violence and racism in their training make a more fundamental problem visible, namely that
students come of age within obstetrics through the violent appropriation of the (m)other.
We amplify students� curricular encounters in two colonially related geopolitical spaces, South Africa and the
Netherlands, and in two professions, obstetric medicine and midwifery, to highlight global systemic tendencies
that push students to cross ethical, social and political boundaries towards the (m)other they are trained to care
for. The embedment of obstetric violence in their rite of passage ensures the reproduction of the modern
obstetric subject, the racialised (m)other, and institutionalised violence worldwide.
Description
Keywords
Obstetric violence, Obstetric racism, Obstetric and midwifery training, Students, Colonialism
Citation
van der Waal, R. et al. (2021). Obstetric violence within students� rite of passage: The reproduction of the obstetric subject and its racialised (m)other. Agenda, 35 (3) ,36-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2021.1958553