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History General

Giving Birth in Canada, 1900-1950

by (author) Wendy Mitchinson

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
May 2002
Category
General, Marriage & Family, History
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802084712
    Publish Date
    May 2002
    List Price
    $50.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036315
    Publish Date
    May 2002
    List Price
    $107.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442675360
    Publish Date
    Apr 2002
    List Price
    $105.00

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Description

In Giving Birth in Canada, the first historical study of childbirth in Canada, Wendy Mitchinson has written a fascinating account of childbirth rituals in the first half of the twentieth century. Thorough and comprehensive, the work is based on a rich variety of sources, including medical textbooks, the medical periodical press, popular medical advice books, literature published in women's magazines, patient records, and interviews with women who gave birth and physicians who practiced during the period.

Mitchinson follows the birthing experience, from the initial diagnosis of pregnancy, through prenatal care, childbirth - who was present, and where it took place - to obstetrical intervention, postnatal care and the definition of what constituted a normal birth, much of which changed significantly through those years. She explores physicians' responses to the needs of pregnant women, developments in medical practices, and the increasing medicalization of childbirth.

While the book focuses on conventional medical practices, the author's survey of midwifery and Aboriginal birthing practices provides a counterpoint to the approach taken by western medicine and permits valuable discussion about the dynamics of gender and race as they relate to childbirth and, more broadly, to early twentieth-century Canada.

About the author

Wendy Mitchinson is a Canada Research Chair in Gender and Medical History and a professor in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo.

Wendy Mitchinson's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Harold Adams Innis Prize, Canadian Foundation for the Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Short-listed, Jason A Hannah Medal, Royal Society of Canada

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