Chapters needed for an edited volume on Childbirth and Spirituality in Late Modern to Contemporary Society

Type: Call for Publications

Date: May 10, 2016

Subject Fields: Health and Health Care, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Women's & Gender History / Studies, World History / Studies, Religious Studies and Theology

This edited volume to be published by Lexington Books will explore the intersection of religion/spirituality with childbirth and midwifery.  In the Late Modern period (1800 to the present day) in large parts of the world, midwives were overshadowed and undermined by the growing professionalism of medicine, hospitalization and ultimately the medicalization of the birthing process itself. Due to these changes the meaning of childbirth has shifted, often becoming more private and more medical. This volume will examine the way in which spirituality has either been brought back to childbirth, often through alternative spiritualities, or has remained in certain traditions, often in conflict with prevailing scientific attitudes.

Confirmed chapters already include the following topics: Sister midwives in 19^th century France, Singaporean Malay mothers in the 20^th c., holistic natural childbirth in contemporary francophone contexts; the Farm and Ina May Gaskin.

Lexington Books publishes research volumes for an academic audience including edited collections in the humanities and social sciences.

PROPOSALS DUE May 10, 2016. Please email provisory title, a 300 word abstract, a short CV or link to Marianne Delaporte at mdelaporte@ndnu.edu or Morag Martin at mmartin@brockport.edu. Contributors will be notified of acceptance by May 30.

Contributors whose abstracts show a potential for inclusion in the volume will be invited to contribute a full chapter, ranging from 18 to 22 pages, double spaced, including notes, are expected by December 2016 for publication in 2017.