Through comadrona, midwife and doctor: the therapeutic itinerary of a pregnant woman in Guatemala

• Autor: Fleischer, Soraya
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2006
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/2086
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/anthropologica/article/view/2086
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Guatemala; midwife; birth; parteras; parto

In this article, I discuss, according to the theoretical-analytical framework of Menéndez (1994), how women and their midwives follow a plural therapeutical itinerary during pregnancy and labor in the region of Antigua, Guatemala. I look forward to present and analyze an example of a delivery that happened during my research, first, as a paradigmatic example of dialogue, not always friendly and pacific, among various local medical systems: a Mayan comadrona (the local midwife), a ladino doctor and a foreign nurse-midwife. Second, this delivery illustrates an encounter that brings together ethnic, class, and gender relations influences by  power and conflict that has structured the material and symbolic construction of this "young" country.