Customer Reviews

Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk: Fertility and Danger in West Central Tanzania

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This scholarly account of the concept of maternal risk in a third world country is a must-read for anyone interested in reproductive health and development. It provides an insightful account of how "safe motherhood" campaigns promoted by international development agencies fail to take in account local perspectives.

This book is one of the only ones I know of that pulls apart the concept of "risk" and shows how this concept can work against women. We in the western world are used to hearing doctors talk about "risk" and often assume (at least, I think we assume) that this talk of risk is somehow HELPING our health outcomes. But we forget, at our own peril I think, that risk can mean different things to different people (to a pregnant woman and a doctor, for instance) and that all definitions of "risk" carry cultural baggage with them. What is risky to one person (or one culture) may be quite safe to another person (or another culture). This book reminds us to think about the power dynamics behind talk of risk.