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Postcolonial Encounters : Migrant Women and Swedish Midwives

Mulinari, Diana LU (2016) p.155-177
Abstract

This chapter explores how women and families from different minority ethnic backgrounds are treated within the Swedish welfare state by focusing on a space in which the Swedish welfare state meets migrant families in very powerful ways: the delivery room. It begins with a short overview of the Swedish health care system and the Swedish immigration regime, with a particular focus on the changes that have occurred since the 1990s. The sociological racialization of Western narratives about ‘us’ and ‘them’ is enacted, among other things, through a very clear and evident distribution wherein ʼnormal families’ are studied within sociology and ‘other families’ are placed within the framework of social work or anthropology. The provision of... (More)

This chapter explores how women and families from different minority ethnic backgrounds are treated within the Swedish welfare state by focusing on a space in which the Swedish welfare state meets migrant families in very powerful ways: the delivery room. It begins with a short overview of the Swedish health care system and the Swedish immigration regime, with a particular focus on the changes that have occurred since the 1990s. The sociological racialization of Western narratives about ‘us’ and ‘them’ is enacted, among other things, through a very clear and evident distribution wherein ʼnormal families’ are studied within sociology and ‘other families’ are placed within the framework of social work or anthropology. The provision of childcare and maternity leave, as well as the high degree of women in the labour market, education and the political sphere, are, despite their limitations, vital achievements from a postcolonial feminist perspective.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Changing Relations of Welfare : Family, Gender and Migration in Britain and Scandinavia - Family, Gender and Migration in Britain and Scandinavia
pages
23 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85147639855
ISBN
9781317168522
9780754678939
DOI
10.4324/9781315571270-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3052db53-8766-4ed0-9e9b-8351ea65d0b7
date added to LUP
2023-02-20 15:46:02
date last changed
2024-07-11 17:35:56
@inbook{3052db53-8766-4ed0-9e9b-8351ea65d0b7,
  abstract     = {{<p>This chapter explores how women and families from different minority ethnic backgrounds are treated within the Swedish welfare state by focusing on a space in which the Swedish welfare state meets migrant families in very powerful ways: the delivery room. It begins with a short overview of the Swedish health care system and the Swedish immigration regime, with a particular focus on the changes that have occurred since the 1990s. The sociological racialization of Western narratives about ‘us’ and ‘them’ is enacted, among other things, through a very clear and evident distribution wherein ʼnormal families’ are studied within sociology and ‘other families’ are placed within the framework of social work or anthropology. The provision of childcare and maternity leave, as well as the high degree of women in the labour market, education and the political sphere, are, despite their limitations, vital achievements from a postcolonial feminist perspective.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mulinari, Diana}},
  booktitle    = {{Changing Relations of Welfare : Family, Gender and Migration in Britain and Scandinavia}},
  isbn         = {{9781317168522}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{155--177}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  title        = {{Postcolonial Encounters : Migrant Women and Swedish Midwives}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315571270-8}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781315571270-8}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}