Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk : Fertility and Danger in West Central Tanzania

An investigation of the consequences resulting from fertility-related development interventions in Tanzania In Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk, Denise Roth Allen persuasively argues that development interventions in the Third World often have unintended and unacknowledged consequences. Based on twenty-two months of fieldwork in the Shinyanga Region of west central Tanzania, this rich and engaging ethnography of women's fertility-related experiences highlights the processes by which a set of seemingly well-intentioned international maternal health policy recommendations go awry when implemented at the local level. An exploration of how threats to maternal health have been defined and addressed at the global, national, and local levels, Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk presents two contrasting, and oftentimes competing, definitions of risk: those that form the basis of international recommendations and national maternal health policies and those that do not. The effect that these contrasting definitions of risk have on women's fertility-related experiences at the local level are explored throughout the book. This study employs an innovative approach to the analysis of maternal health risk, one that situates rural Tanzanian women's fertility-related experiences within a broader historical and sociocultural context. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative that was launched on the world stage in the late 1980s, the author explores the similarities in the language used and solutions proposed by health development experts over time. This set of'official'maternal health risks is then compared to an alternative set of risks that emerge when attention is focused on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth at the local level. Although some of these latter risks are often spoken about as deriving from spiritual or supernatural causes, the case studies presented throughout the second half of the book reveal that the concept of risk in the context of pregnancy and childbirth is much more complex, involving the interplay of spiritual, physical, and economic aspects of everyday life. In Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk ,Denise Roth Allen persuasively argues that development interventions in the Third World often have unintended and unacknowledged consequences. Based on twenty-two months of fieldwork in the Shinyanga Region of west central Tanzania, this rich and engaging ethnography of women's fertility-related experiences highlights the processes by which a set of seemingly well-intentioned international maternal health policy recommendations go awry when implemented at the local level. An exploration of how threats to maternal health have been defined and addressed at the global, national, and local levels, Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk presents two contrasting, and oftentimes competing, definitions of those that form the basis of international recommendations and national maternal health policies and those that do not. The effect that these contrasting definitions of risk have on women's fertility-related experiences at the local level are explored throughout the book. This study employs an innovative approach to the analysis of maternal health risk, one that situates rural Tanzanian women's fertility-related experiences within a broader historical and sociocultural context. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative that was launched on the world stage in the late 1980s, the author explores the similarities in the language used and solutions proposed by health development experts over time. This set of "official" maternal health risks is then compared to an alternative set of risks that emerge when attention is focused on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth at the local level. Although some of these latter risks are often spoken about as deriving from spiritual or supernatural causes, the case studies presented throughout the second half of the book reveal that the concept of risk in the context of pregnancy and childbirth is much more complex, involving the interplay of spiritual, physical, and economic aspects of everyday life. Extrait du résumé de amazon.com : "This rich and engaging ethnography of women's fertility-related experiences in rural Tanzania highlights the processes by which a set of seemingly well-intentioned, international maternal health policy recommendations break down when implemented at the local level. Based on twenty-two months of fieldwork in the Shinyanga Region of west-central Tanzania, Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk explores how maternal health risks have been defined and addressed at the global, national, and local levels. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika, and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative, Denise Roth Allen explores the similarities in the language used and solutions proposed by health development experts over time. The case studies presented throughout the second half of the book reveal that the concept of risk in the context of pregnancy and childbirth is extremely complex, involving the interplay of spiritual, physical, and economic aspects of everyday life." Contents......Page 8 List of Tables......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 18 List of Abbreviations......Page 22 1. Motherhood as a Category of Risk......Page 26 2. The Colonial Community: Managing Native Motherhood......Page 44 3. The International Community: Making Motherhood Safe from Afar......Page 60 4. The National Community: Making Motherhood Safe in Tanzania......Page 78 5. Situating the Fieldwork Setting: The Shinyanga Region in Historical Perspective......Page 89 6. The Community of Bulangwa......Page 108 7. Risk and Tradition......Page 132 8. The Prenatal Period, Part 1: The Risk of Infertility......Page 144 9. The Prenatal Period, Part 2: Risks during Pregnancy......Page 175 10. Risks during Childbirth......Page 212 11. Risks during the Postpartum Period......Page 237 12. Risk and Maternal Health......Page 251 Notes......Page 258 References......Page 294 Index......Page 320 "This study employs an approach to the analysis of maternal health risk, one that situates rural Tanzanian women's fertility-related experiences within a broader historical and sociocultural context. Beginning with an examination of how maternal health risk was defined and addressed during the early years of British colonial rule in Tanganyika and moving to a discussion of an internationally conceived maternal health initiative that was launched on the world stage in the late 1980's, the author explores the similarities in the language used and proposed by health development experts over time."--BOOK JACKET I first heard the story of Mrs. X in February 1988 during an afternoon talk in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.