The Manner Born: Birth Rites in Cross-Cultural Perspective

This essential collection on maternal and child health focuses on the rites of giving birth from a cross-cultural perspective. The distinguished list of contributors describe the many customs surrounding birth through infancy, highlighting a wide range of variation in practices across cultures. They discuss attitudes and techniques in childbirth, the interaction between human evolutionary form and birthing procedures, the influence of societal factors that differentiate Western from non-Western maternal birthing positions, and the art of midwifery. Also treated are less well-known areas of birthing such as the imagery of birthing, placenta rituals, and popular beliefs about the amniotic membrane called a caul. In addition, the authors explore the humoral medical tradition used in birthing, the possible influence of cultural practices on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), customs and beliefs regarding breastfeeding, weaning, swaddling, and finally a sociobiological perspective on early infant behavior. This book will be valuable for courses in medical sociology and anthropology, public health or behavioral sciences, psychology and psychiatry, and for pre-med students.

Michael Newton is Lecturer in English at Leiden University, Netherlands. He is the author of Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children (2002), Age of Assassins: A History of Conspiracy and Political Violence, 1865-1981 (2012), and Kind Hearts and Coronets (BFI Film Classics, 2003).

Brian Bates is a Professor at the University of Brighton. He is the author of the bestselling novel, The Way of the Wyrd. His most recent book is The Human Face, co-written with John Cleese.