Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization

Reproducing Race, an ethnography of pregnancy and birth at a large New York City public hospital, explores the role of race in the medical setting. Khiara M. Bridges investigates how race-commonly seen as biological in the medical world-is socially constructed among women dependent on the public healthcare system for prenatal care and childbirth. Bridges argues that race carries powerful material consequences for these women even when it is not explicitly named, showing how they are marginalized by the practices and assumptions of the clinic staff. Deftly weaving ethnographic evidence into broader discussions of Medicaid and racial disparities in infant and maternal mortality, Bridges shines new light on the politics of healthcare for the poor, demonstrating how the "medicalization" of social problems reproduces racial stereotypes and governs the bodies of poor women of color.

Author: Khiara Bridges
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 03/18/2011
Pages: 306
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780520268951
ISBN10: 0520268954
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Medical | Health Care Delivery
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | General

About the Author
Khiara M. Bridges is Associate Professor of Law and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Boston University.