Ourselves As Mothers: The Universal Experience Of Motherhood - Softcover

Anthropologist Kitzinger's (Women as Mothers, 1979) dreary picture of the current state of motherhood in the West leaves one wondering why anyone bothers anymore. New mothers, she says, are devalued by society and perhaps by themselves, prey to the exhortations of the medical establishment and so-called parenting experts, and plied by the media with images of unattainably perfect motherhood. She contrasts the West, where medicalized birth is ``depersonalized,'' with traditional cultures, where childbirth remains a ``social act.'' No doubt a society, such as ours, that still views motherhood as a deviation from the norm needs some attitude adjustment. But the question still seems open as to whether a woman would rather have prenatal care in the form of regular, if alienating visits to the obstetrician or in the form of exhortations, made to Jamaican women, not to drink soursop juice to avoid excessive labor pain. Kitzinger provides an unusual and enlightening tour of mothering practices around the world, from India to Zambia, Israel, and China. She is suggesting that we combine the best of mothering traditions from pre-and post- industrial societies--but how to accomplish it must be the subject of another book. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"If we are concerned about the kind of society in which we live, we ought to think about the role of woman as mothers within it," says Kitzinger, author of the classic The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth (1989), mother, and anthropologist. In her latest book, Kitzinger explores women's shared experiences around the world, highlighting the role of women in different cultures and the ways in which the images of motherhood are socially constructed. With this cross-cultural perspective, Kitzinger puts motherhood in both a historical and a sociological context. She reveals that many versions of the family are viable and that different permutations of the family exist because they meet the social situations into which our lives have evolved. Excellent, thought-provoking fare. Not for mothers only. Denise Perry Donavin