Call for Papers:
Abstracts are invited for a collection of essays that will consider the way in which debates, theories and ideas that can be seen in literature, a wide variety of genres across Europe from the early modern period through until the early twentieth century, continues to be relevant or significant to the practice, study, and understanding of midwifery, obstetrics, and childbirth today.
Approach:
Contributors are encouraged to consider the Two Cultures debate, and specifically the movement to integrate the sciences/social sciences and the humanities, which promotes consilience. While many now recognise that the humanities can be shaped and galvanized by scientific enquiry, only very recently have scholars considered that the humanities can also be of benefit to the sciences, and that it too can energise and even advance the disciplines with which it interacts. The humanities has, for instance, the tools to consider scientific progress non-sequentially, via routes that are more indirect, thus offering more flexibility in the acquisition of knowledge; frequently, this involves examining sources which have been overlooked or discarded by the sciences. These alternative perspectives are important in a variety of scientific fields, but particularly in obstetrics and midwifery, the professionals of which must bring together evolving, multi-faceted complexities. The collection will, therefore, seek to combine the range of technologies and methodologies that come from both the humanities and (social) sciences, and provide an holistic approach to the study of obstetrics and midwifery from the early modern period to today.
In particular, it will employ complexity theory, a scientific theory that has been adopted by the social sciences, and increasingly the humanities, each with its own interpretation and approach. As such, complexity theory might offer a useful bridge between the three— a neutral space—that is open and flexible enough to allow for fuzziness, subtleties, imprecise elements and interpretations to be considered, and for meaningful results to be extracted. Crucially, when applied to literature, complexity theory will demonstrate that meaningful interpretations can be extracted from historical texts, and by studying the development of behaviour, practice and attitudes throughout the history of childbirth and midwifery, contributors will identify research gaps, draw conclusions, and highlight simple ideas and principles.
Themes:
Themes might include, but are not limited to: the progress of education and training in midwifery, and the effect of training in a clinical setting as opposed to a homebirth setting; the leadership and authority of midwives; birth medicalization and the evolution of the decision-making process; the relationship between natural birth and bioethics; fear and childbirth; managing the experience or “intuition” of midwives/mothers; the dissemination and reception of research/publications.
Please sent a 300-350 word abstract, indicating what literature/which writers you will examine, as well as a short biography to Francesca Scott by Monday 7th July 2014. Please contact Francesca for further information or clarification.