4. Invoking Vali: Painful Technologies of Birth

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Note on Transliteration xiii
5. Prologue: Birth on the Threshold 1
6. Introduction: Childbirth and Modernity in Tamil Nadu 5
7. 1. The Professionalization of Obstetrics in Colonial India: The “Problem” of Childbirth in Colonial Discourse 36
8. 2. Maternal and Child Health Services in the Postcolonial Era 57
9. 3. Bangles of Neem, Bangles of Gold: Pregnant Women as Auspicious Burdens 76
10. 4. Invoking Vali: Painful Technologies of Birth 112
11. 5. Moving Targets: The Routinization of IUD Insertions in Public Maternity Wards 141
12. 6. “Baby Friendly” Hospitals and Bad Mothers: Maneuvering Development during the Postpartum Period 166
13. Conclusion: Reproductive Rights, “Choices,” and Resistance 206
14. Epilogue 215
15. Appendix I. Sample Interview Questionnaires 221
16. Appendix II. Official Structure of Maternal-Child Health Care Institutions and Practitioners in Tamil 236
17. Glossary 239
18. Notes 243
19. Bibliography 265
20. Index 281