Pregnancy, Delivery, Childbirth

This book reconstructs the history of conception, pregnancy and childbirth in Europe from antiquity to the Twentieth century, focusing on its most significant turning points. It explores a history, that far from being linear, progressive or homogeneous, is characterised by significant continuities as well as transformations.

'Nadia Maria Filippini is a highly regarded social historian with a prolific scholarship centred on women's reproductive history. With this volume, beautifully translated by Clelia Boscolo, English readers can access Filippini's groundbreaking long durée approach to childbirth history, revealing patterns that evolved over 25 centuries.' Costanza Gislon Dopfel, Social History of Medicine, UK

Autorentext

Nadia Maria Filippini was Lecturer in Women's History in the Department of Humanities at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. She obtained her PhD in history at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Her research concerns the history of women and the history of mentalities. She has published books, essays and articles, in Italian and other languages, on topics such as the history of Caesarean sections ("extraordinary birth"), childbirth and the body, as well as the history of medicine, and women's social history. She is a founding member of the Società Italiana delle Storiche (Italian Society of Women Historians).

Inhalt

Introduction; Part I: Cultural representations; 1. Gender dichotomies; Part II: Giving birth and being born from antiquity to the 18th century; 2. Pregnancy; 3. Childbirth; 4. Birth and post-natal period; 5. Social birth; 6. The midwife; Part III: The 18th-century juncture; 7. The institutionalisation of midwives; 8. Man-midwives on the childbirth scene; 9. Lying-in hospitals; 10. The "foetus-as-citizen"; Part IV: The contemporary age; 11. The many revolutions of the 20th century; Bibliography; Index