Women, Health And The State In The Middle East: The Politics And Culture Of Childbirth In Jordan (library Of Modern Middle East Studies)

Women's Health In The Middle East Is Powerfully Shaped By Political Imperatives And Dominant Ideologies Of Health. Here, Irene Maffi Delineates The Influence Of Colonialism, Nation Building In Postcolonial States, And International Development Agencies. She Examines The Social, Cultural And Political Institutions That Manage Childbirth In Jordan Today, Through Interviews With Key Figures-midwives, Physicians, Pregnant Women And Mothers-and An Exploration Of The Main Institutional Settings, From Clinics To Hospitals, Doctor's Offices, Ngos And Government Departments. With A Thorough Analysis Of Birth Practices, The History Of Health Governance Under The Colonial State And Missionaries, And The Institutionalization Of Health Practice And Practitioners In Independent Jordan, This Book Will Be Indispensable For All Those Concerned With Women, Health, Development, And The State In The Middle East. 1. Introduction -- 2. Medicine, Women And Procreation In Jordan (1920-2008) -- 3. Dayas, Pioneers, And Technocratic Midwives -- 4. From The Obstetricians' Point Of View -- 5. Becoming Mothers: Ethnography Of An Intimate Experience -- 6. Conclusion. Irene Maffi. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [255]-272) And Index. "When asserting the history of 20th-century cultural forms, non-Western art can no longer remain relegated to the margins, viewed as derivative and imitative of canonical Western artistic modes. This assessment of modern Iranian visual culture from the 1960s and 1970s suggests that modernity in Iran was a creative, complex and contested process. The book examines the expression of Iranian modernity in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, photography, posters and graphic arts. It highlights new modes of artistic production within an expanding institutional context: developments in Iranian art criticism, exhibition apparatus, education and patronage. The contributors also address changes in the iconography of Iranian art and in the increasingly social role of the artist. Ultimately, these patterns of artistic production influenced the art that accompanied the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This work demonstrates that the visual arts serve as an important archival record of a critical period in Iranian history."--Bloomsbury publishing.