Autore
Perrotta, Domenico

Titolo
Il parto conteso. L'ostetrica tra discorso medico e discorso umanizzante
Periodico
Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa
Anno: 2009 - Volume: 0 - Fascicolo: 3 - Pagina iniziale: 383 - Pagina finale: 414

This article presents some findings of a study on the profession of midwife and the medicalisation of childbirth conducted in Italy by a team of sociologists and midwives; it was based on in-depth interviews with midwives and mothers and direct observation of childbirths in a National Health Service hospital. We will describe "biomedical discourse" and "humanizing discourse": these represent two different ways of defining and treating pregnancy, labour and childbirth. Biomedical discourse is hegemonic in Italy, while the knowledge of a midwife, central in the humanizing discourse, has a subordinate position. Through ethnographic descriptions of childbirths, we will show how medicalising decisions are taken by obstetricians, mothers-to-be and midwives. A physiological birth is often defined as pathological by the actors, not for "scientific" reasons, but for social and interactional ones, such as organisational and legal factors or working routines.



SICI: 1973-3194(2009)0:3<383:IPCLTD>2.0.ZU;2-G
Testo completo: http://www.mulino.it/ws/rwDirectDownload.php?doi=10.3240/30770
Testo completo alternativo: http://www.mulino.it/rivisteweb/scheda_articolo.php?id_articolo=30770

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