Project Organizers:
Melanie Martin, PhD (Yale University)
Amanda Veile, PhD (Purdue University)
What Are Birth Stories?
The practice of writing and sharing personal birth stories
is a growing phenomenon in the U.S. These stories are shared to
inspire, comfort, empower, and entertain women and families who have gone
through, or are about to go through, the birth process. If you or a partner has
recently given birth, you may have read a few in preparation
for “what to expect”. You may have written and shared your own.
Women may share birth stories in birth classes and through personal emails and blogs.
Popular pregnancy and parenting websites have started to post select stories
for wider public readership. A few websites have sprung up dedicated to
collecting and archiving individually submitted stories (see the Birth Stories in Media page for examples).
We applaud this grassroots movement, but have noted that most stories are shared by U.S. women, many giving birth at home or in birthing centers, and
many are of relatively privileged economic and educational status.
Obviously, there is a much larger population of women
giving birth who are not taking part in this movement. The mediums through
which to read and share birth stories are still limited. Women giving birth under different circumstances may not connect with stories coming
from a fairly circumspect group of U.S. women, and most importantly, their stories are not being told.
Our Mission
We are asking for your help in building an online global archive
of birth stories. As anthropologists working with diverse families across the
world, we are uniquely positioned to facilitate this. Collectively, these
stories would showcase a greater diversity of birth experiences, values, and customs
around the world, and we hope, expand the audience of families who might
benefit from reading and sharing these personal stories.
This is not a research
project. However, we do think this project will promote
public engagement with anthropology and anthropological research. Different
cultures and customs may be highlighted through the individual stories and
links to the relevant peoples and research sites. The collection of narratives will speak simultaneously to human diversity and
universals. Publishing these stories online with photos, audio, video, and multiple
translations will provide for a truly public and inclusive conversation about human birth experiences.
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