Jordan1987

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Jordan1987
BibType ARTICLE
Key Jordan1987
Author(s) Brigitte Jordan
Title The hut and the hospital: information, power and symbolism in the artifacts of birth
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Birth, Artifacts, Information, Power, Symbolism, Medical EMCA
Publisher
Year 1987
Language
City
Month
Journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care and Education
Volume 14
Number 1
Pages 36–40
URL Link
DOI 10.1111/j.1523-536X.1987.tb01446.x
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

As the tools of birth change from familiar household objects, such as hammocks and beds, to high-technology objects, such as delivery tables and fetal monitors, significant changes occur in the ability to give physical support to women during labor and in who owns the tools and the information they provide. Data derived from the laboring woman herself are less sought after and less valued.

Ironically, high-technology procedures and artifacts are more easily transported than are the household artifacts of birth, which are embedded in the matrix of daily life. When different levels of technology are available, the solution to a problem during childbirth is usually sought on the next higher level of technology–i.e., medication or surgery, even when a simpler approach, such as human comforting or ambulation, might work more quickly and effectively.

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