Navigating Midwifery Waters in Mexico 

(…) because midwives in this country and around the world… not only do they look after births and pregnancies but in fact, they do a lot more… for women’s reproductive and sexual rights. 

In the video below, the researcher Georgina Sánchez-Ramírez (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico) and co-author of the newly published book Midwives in Mexico: Situated Politics, Politically Situated (2021) highlights the significant contributions made by midwives in defending women’s rights and self-determination in Mexico and elsewhere. In this way, the work of midwives in Mexico, as sustained by the book, transcends the practical prenatal care and birth assistance towards a broader political context.

For scholars and students in Latin American Studies, the book sharpens the focus on the perspective of situated-ness: The ways in which midwives engaged in political activism intersect, cross and challenge societal divisions both in public spheres and in intimate, private spaces. It incites us to inquire: What do we know about the midwives and their located herstories in Mexico and Latin America? Who has access to midwifery care and why? Who can become a midwife and how? What kind of political activisms are employed by these empowered women positioned in fragile circumstances?

Our colleague Dr. Hanna Laako is the co-author of the book, now available at the UEF library repository: Midwives in Mexico: Situated Politics, Politically Situated