Childbearing in Contemporary Africa: Situating Local Realities in Structural Inequality

Abstract

The high rate of maternal mortality in Africa has attracted much attention in the form of research and interventions. The dominant perspective on childbearing in Africa focuses on local inequalities and the improvement of physiological health through biomedical intervention. In this study, I argue that the dominant perspective is too narrow, by using a Critical perspective in Medical Anthropology to show how local realities of childbirth reach beyond physiological health, and to tie local experiences of stratified reproduction to structural inequality on a global level.