Abstract

MAGNONE ALEMAN, Natalia. Reproductive governance in childbirth assistance in Uruguay. A look in historical perspective. Rev. urug. Antropología y Etnografía [online]. 2023, vol.8, n.1, e831.  Epub June 01, 2023. ISSN 2393-7068.  https://doi.org/10.29112/ruae.v8i1.1831.

The article analyzes the institutional, political, health and professional changes that were transforming the delivery care scenario in Uruguay in the first half of the 20th century. It focuses on two aspects: the institutionalization of childbirth and the role of the midwife in the process. For this, the concept of reproductive governance is used as it is useful to understand the transformations in political rationalities in the field of reproduction.

In methodological terms, documentary and content analysis techniques are used to analyze the written work of leading doctors in the country, midwifery publications and other institutional documents of the time are used.

The analysis of this process allows us to glimpse that part of the changes promoted by medical rationality were not based on scientific foundations but on political and cultural decisions that were nourished, among other matters, by ideas about the duties of motherhood and the expected roles for women (assisted women and midwives) of that historical moment.

Keywords : reproductive governance; institutionalization of childbirth; midwifery; maternity.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )