This document summarizes Briitte Jordan's introductory remarks given at a symposium on childbirth across cultures.
Jordan discusses how the field of the anthropology of birth did not exist when she began her research decades ago. She expresses her pleasure at how the field has grown and developed rigorous ethnographic studies of childbirth practices in different cultures. Jordan also highlights the republication of the book "Birth in Twelve Cultures" which would not have been possible without significant efforts.
A key concept Jordan explores is that of "authoritative knowledge" - the knowledge that is considered legitimate for making decisions in a given social situation. She analyzes how authoritative knowledge can be distributed either hierarchically, with
This document summarizes Briitte Jordan's introductory remarks given at a symposium on childbirth across cultures.
Jordan discusses how the field of the anthropology of birth did not exist when she began her research decades ago. She expresses her pleasure at how the field has grown and developed rigorous ethnographic studies of childbirth practices in different cultures. Jordan also highlights the republication of the book "Birth in Twelve Cultures" which would not have been possible without significant efforts.
A key concept Jordan explores is that of "authoritative knowledge" - the knowledge that is considered legitimate for making decisions in a given social situation. She analyzes how authoritative knowledge can be distributed either hierarchically, with
This document summarizes Briitte Jordan's introductory remarks given at a symposium on childbirth across cultures.
Jordan discusses how the field of the anthropology of birth did not exist when she began her research decades ago. She expresses her pleasure at how the field has grown and developed rigorous ethnographic studies of childbirth practices in different cultures. Jordan also highlights the republication of the book "Birth in Twelve Cultures" which would not have been possible without significant efforts.
A key concept Jordan explores is that of "authoritative knowledge" - the knowledge that is considered legitimate for making decisions in a given social situation. She analyzes how authoritative knowledge can be distributed either hierarchically, with
Introductory Remarks to Symposium on "Birth in Twelve Cultures:
Papers in Honor of Briitte !ordan" "nnual #eetins of the "merican "nthropoloical "ssociation$ San %rancisco C"$ &ecem'er ($ )**+ Briitte !ordan ,ero- Palo "lto Research Center and Institute for Research on .earnin .ast Chanes: *+/)+/0) Abstract: "uthoritative 1nowlede and its Construction: 2ithin any particular social situation a multitude of ways of knowin e-ist$ 'ut some carry more weiht than others/ Some kinds of knowlede are discredited and devalued$ while others 'ecome socially sanctioned$ even o3cial$ and are accepted as rounds for leitimate inference and action/ In the hope of contri'utin to the desin of 'etter social and technoloical support for people4s activities durin child'irth and otherwise$ I e-plore the characteristics of settins$ social arranements$ and technoloies that lead to particular distri'utions of authoritative knowlede and attendant decision5makin power/ 6)0 mins/7 I cannot 'ein to e-press to you how deeply I feel the honor you have accorded me with this symposium/ I am tremendously pleased to 8nd assem'led in one spot such a lare num'er of individuals who are all actively involved in the anthropoloical 6in contrast to the medical7 study of 'irth/ 2hen I 'ean investiatin child'irth and midwifery in 9ucatan 6and I 'elieve that is now almost e-actly +0 years ao7$ what we now know as the "nthropoloy of Birth or the 8eld of :thno5;'stetrics did not e-ist/ There were a very few anthropoloists who had ever even considered the topic in any systematic way 6there was a seminal survey article 'y #araret #ead and <iles <ewton which mostly 'emoaned the fact that there were no ood ethnoraphic data on child'irth and some crosscultural comparisons pulled out of the Human Relations "rea %iles7/ But there were few anthropoloists who considered the topic a leitimate topic in anthropoloy 55 and even that is sayin too much/ It wasn4t that people arued is it or isn4t it leitimate$ it simply wasn4t there/ Child'irth did not e-ist in anthropoloy/ """*+ Symposium Remarks = pae5) There was no notion of 'irth as a cultural system> the idea of ethno5o'stetrics 6a term later coined 'y Carol #cClain7 had not seen the liht of day$ nor the notion that western cosmopolitan o'stetrics could 'e studied in a comparative anthropoloical manner as ?ust another ethno5o'stetric system 6an idea that Ro'ert Hahn has 'een responsi'le for7/ Believe me$ for a strulin raduate student those were intellectually lonely days indeed/ So I am tremendously pleased to see how far we have come/ The "nthropoloy of Birth is now a lively and vital 8eld and if I have contri'uted to its rowth$ I take reat pleasure in that/ @I also take reat pleasure in the repu'lication of Birth in %our Cultures which truly would not have happened without the la'or of love 'estowed on it 'y Ro''ie &avis5 %loyd/ The 'ook has 'een updated and revised/ 2e also added three new chapters to it which contain some of my more recent writins/ /// none of which would have happened without Ro''ie4s dedication/A <ow$ I think I should also tell you that I no loner work in the area of child'irth/ I4ve chaned my career$ aain$ 6I actually think it takes a'out ten years to make a dent in a iven 8eld7$ and after havin participated in illuminatin$ at least partially$ the territory of child'irth$ I felt I needed to move on/ In my current life I am tryin to understand$ toether with my colleaues at ,ero- P"RC and IR.$ how people oraniBe themselves to work together$ play toether$ live toether 55 and what we as anthropoloists and social scientists can do to contri'ute to the desin of 'etter workin and learnin environments/ So I have 'een less directly concerned with child'irth recently and have focused more on the underlyin$ or I am tempted to say$ overlyin Cuestion of cultural chane$ and in particular the role new kinds of artifacts and technoloies play in that chane/ But while the shift from medical anthropoloy to the anthropoloy of work may seem fairly radical$ there are also some underlyin themes that have remained constant$ and that actually have deepened in sini8cance for me in my e-posure to industrial work settins/ ;ne of these is the notion of authoritative knowlede/ """*+ Symposium Remarks = pae5+ There are two ways in which one miht use the idea of authoritative knowlede: D one$ the more conventional use$ sees authoritative knowlede simply as the knowlede that is attached to persons in authority positions$ as$ for e-ample$ the doctor in child'irth$ the teacher in the classroom$ the foreman in a plant> D the second$ and this is what I have 'een mostly concerned with$ looks at "1 as the knowlede on the 'asis of which decisions are made in a iven settin$ 'y a iven social roup/ .et me tell you what I think the second use 'uys us/ ;ne issue that arose for me very early on in my work came from the o'servation that in some social situations multiple kinds of knowlede are present 'y virtue of the e-perience and 'ackround of the various participants/ In some roups$ these diEerent kinds of knowlede are in conFict$ in others$ they 'ecome a resource for constructin a ?oint way of seein the world$ a way of de8nin what shall count as authoritative knowlede/ This is the case$ for e-ample$ in child'irth in 9ucatan where women in the rural communities draw on a lare 'ody of wisdom that is assem'led in each particular 'irth from a shared history and from the e-perience of those present$ that is$ the woman4s immediate family$ the villae midwife$ and other e-perienced women in the community/ 2hat is interestin is that in such situations$ all participants lend a hand to ive aid 55 physical$ emotional$ ritual$ spiritual 55 and if the la'or is drawn5out and di3cult$ they 'uild a shared store of knowlede throuh stories$ demonstrations$ and remedies/ In this manner$ a ?oint view of what is oin on in this la'or$ with this woman5plus5'a'y$ is constructed in which every'ody involved in the 'irth shares/ In contrast to western medicaliBed 'irths$ there is no one in chare here/ There is no sinle decision5maker/ It is certainly not the midwife 6which was initially a surprise for me 'ecause I e-pected her to act as some sort of doctor eCuivalent7> it is not the woman$ either 6which was somethin that I$ as a feminist raduate student$ would """*+ Symposium Remarks = pae5( have loved to see7/ Rather$ the store of knowlede reCuired for conductin a 'irth is created and recreated 'y all participants ?ointly as they do the work of 'irthin/ 2hat is interestin is that we have also found this horiBontal distri'ution of authoritative knowlede in our more recent work in hih5technoloy work places/ %or e-ample$ when we studied the control center for an airline4s round operations$ we found that the people who work there are also constantly enaed in updatin each other on the state of their world$ where the "world" at issue is the world of planes in the air$ on the round$ and at the ates and their state of readiness in reard to passeners$ 'aae$ fuel$ food and crews/ In this situation information comin into the room throuh any of a num'er of channels 6such as printers$ radios$ telephones$ computer screens$ video monitors7 is potentially relevant to every'ody in the room and we 8nd that information is not treated as privileed/ People do not withhold information$ they constantly ive and solicit help$ and they develop shared work practices and technoloies which support the ?oint updatin of the common stock of knowlede on the 'asis of which decisions are made in the room/ To 'e sure there are supervisors in the ops room/ But for the routine work of ettin planes in and out they function not so much as controllers of information and decision5makers 'ut as an e-tra pair of hands$ an e-tra set of viilant eyes$ some'ody who can keep watch over a particular pro'lem as it develops and possi'ly link to outside resources if they are reCuired/ The routine decisions are all made 'y the workin team/ In contrast to the ops room$ there are other situations where multiple kinds of knowlede donot come toether$ where one kind of knowlede wins out and carries the day/ This is typical for "merican hospital 'irths where medical knowlede supersedes and deleitimiBes other potentially relevant sources of knowlede such as the woman4s prior e-perience and the knowlede she has of the state of her 'ody/ <onmedical knowlede is devalued 'y all participants$ usually includin the woman herself who comes to 'elieve that the course charted on the 'asis of professional medical knowlede is the 'est for her/ If she does not acCuiesce and decides to actively resists$ we et$ in the e-treme case$ the phenomenon of court5ordered cesarean sections$ that is$ the leal enforcement of one particular kind of knowlede/ """*+ Symposium Remarks = pae5G I4ve surely painted a one5sided picture here and thins are 'y no means as 'lack and white and as uncomplicated and straihtforward as I have made them out for the sake of a )05minute presentation// #ay'e the Cuestion we miht want to ask at this point$ is: does this kind of analysis$ i/e/ an analysis in terms of "uthoritative 1nowlede$ ive us any leverae for restructurin the shape of 'irth in our own society/ "nd I think it does/ I think what we need to think a'out is how we can move from a situation in which authoritative knowlede is hierarchically distri'uted$ into a situation where it is$ 'y consensus$ horiBontally distri'uted$ i/e/ where all participants in the la'or and 'irth contri'ute to the store of knowlede on the 'asis of which decisions are made/ In our technocratiBed systems we need to ask Cuestions such as: 2hat would have to happen for the woman to truly 'ecome a part of the decision5makin processH 2hat if her knowlede$ 'oth 'odily and intellectual$ were to 'e accorded leitimate statusH 2hat if she had a place in the professional participation structures set up around the 'irthH Could there be a translation process 'etween what the woman knows and what the staE understand to 'e the situationH Could there 'e a mutual accommodation of these diverent ways of knowin such that one sinle authoritative knowlede structure emeresH This$ I 'elieve is the challene for the future of child'irth in the technoloiBed western world as well as in the developin countries of the Third 2orld/ """*+ Symposium Remarks = pae5I