Birth without Doctors

Most women giving birth in rural communities throughout the Third World cannot enjoy the "benefits" of modern medical assistance. They are usually too expensive and too far away. This book is the result of journeys and conversations between the author, traditional midwives and mothers which took place over two years in Malaysia and Indonesia. It describes traditional birthing practices and the communities in which they have arisen. For normal births the safety record is impressive, but so, too, is the reassurance of ritual, the incorporation of birthing into family and society rather than the contemporary habit of treating it almost as an illness. It is interesting to discover that many of the practices are based not only on religious understandings but also on sound herbal medical precautions. The book's point is not merely to demonstrate the skill of the traditional midwives, nor even to challenge what seems to be the medical view that pregnancy is an illness, but to give an insight into worlds where "barefoot" midwifery is the norm.