Luminiţa Dumănescu, Marius Eppel

The Politics of Birth in Composite States: Midwives in Transylvania (19th – 20th Century)

Luminiţa Dumănescu, Marius Eppel

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Article information

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Abstract

The second half of the 19th Century witnessed an increased process of birth medicalization – in Europe and in Transylvania as well. We approached the “medicalization” process in both its meanings: the professionalization of the healers, but also the spreading of medical care to people. As consequence, the paper will address both midwives’ training in a society living at the periphery of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the opening to modern care of one of the most intimate moments of a woman’s private life, that of child delivery. The paper aims to follow the legislation concerning the medicalizasion of birth in Transylvania, process which allowed the opening of the local schools for training midwives.

Keywords: midwifery, birth medicalization, Austrian-Hungarian legislation, Generale Normativum, midwives schools

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