Note from LeftEast editors: We share this podcast with the permission of its producers from Contrasens. “Contrasens” is a podcast which explores current themes in the field of the social sciences. The project aims to bring to the forefront and make as accessible as possible research conducted by sociologists, anthropologists and other specialists from related fields. Content hosts and producers are students from the Faculty of Sociologu and Social Assistance, Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj: Marina Mironica, Matei Mlinarcic, Karol Pataki, Pati Murg, Vlad Bejinariu and Maria Martelli.
Rarely do we take the time to consider something as essential as birth-giving. In this episode, post-doctoral researcher Neda Deneva brings up the issue of birth-giving practices in relation with labour and migration, in an Eastern European context. Listen up to a fascinating account of how the medical profession is changing, how the idea of the patient at the center of the process is being introduced in Bulgarian and Romanian hospitals, and of how women deal with (and are dealt with) the life-giving act of birthing.
00:40 – 5:00 – Introducing the issue of birth practices, legality, hospitals and home birth.
5:10 – 9:10 – Birth-giving practices and their connection to labour and migration.
9:10 – 24:00 – Different paradigms in medical practice. Is the patient at the center of care?
24:30 – 29:00 – Why and how countries differ in their practices across Europe.
29:00 – 37:00 – The patient as a client, the marketization of health versus being taken care of as a person.
37:00 – 47:10 – Methodological questions in a small field. Being an ethical researcher.
47:10 – end – Legal and social issues with changing uncomfortable birth-giving practices.
Producers: Maria Martelli and Matei Mlinarcic