| Description |
x, 441 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. The Plains of Troy and Bastille Day 1972 -- 2. Writing the Body of Birth and Patriarchy -- 3. The Body of Birth Reconsidered -- 4. The Place of Birth and Social Change -- 5. Myths of Origins and the Development of Patriarchy -- 6. From Julius Caesar to Taurus the Bull -- 7. Obstetric Strategies -- 8. Unsavory Saviors -- 9. Narrative Interruption -- 10. Historical Foremothers -- 11. Taking Our Maternal Bodies Back -- 12. Lessons of the Milk |
| Summary |
As personal and touching as it is far-reaching and analytical, Bearing Meaning is fresh, original, and exciting, moving effortlessly among textual analyses, social theories, and the invaluable experience of motherhood. Kahn makes an unprecedented contribution to the understanding of the maternal in culture and society - which will, in turn, have a powerful impact not only on the reading and teaching of standard materials on birth and motherhood but on the rethinking of social reform as well |
|
A passionate placement of childbearing at the core of human culture and society, Bearing Meaning is that rare combination of warm and genuine experience with profound, important scholarship. From Homer to obstetric texts to Our Bodies, Ourselves, and where the humanities and social sciences overlap and intertwine, Robbie Pfeufer Kahn has crafted a beautiful book that awards the meaning of childbearing to all, not just to women or to families with children. Taking into account how the politics of patriarchy has sought to define and control the birth process, Kahn liberates and releases this central human experience into the heart of society and culture where it can be shared, enjoyed, and understood in greater depth than it has ever been before |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [395]-426) and index |
| Subject |
Childbirth -- Social aspects.
|
|
Feminist theory.
|
|
Motherhood.
|
|
Obstetrics -- Social aspects.
|
| LC no. |
94042159 |
| ISBN |
0252021711 (cloth : acid-free paper) |
|
