26th June 2025, 3PM-4PM (UTC+1) join via link: https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/61968148754

Topic of this seminar:

Birth care is in Health Studies, predominantly approached through the lenses and logics of a so called ‘medical’ and a ‘midwifery’ logic of care. These models of care are often portrayed as conflicting models and the insistence to continuously demarcate the differences between the two models has resulted in a rather dichotomized space where care can either be considered as too technocratic or too holistic.  

Little sociological attention has been set on the birth and the organization of birth care. Ann Oakley (2016) has among others female researchers, demonstrated how an emerging sociology of childbirth appeared in the 1970s as a result of influences outside the discipline of sociology. Feminism and maternity care activism are here mentioned as some of the important influences. Despite the given attention, one could argue that birth is still on the periphery of mainstream sociological research. This presentation seeks to give a sociological attention to birth as well as to move beyond the dichotomous approach to birth care by dismantling some of the many contestations and tensions in the field of birth care. With inspiration from the edited collection “The contested space of birth -what makes a good birth?” (forthcoming), this presentation will invite to shared reflections on some of the epistemic encounters in birth care.  

Nicole Thualagant

As a sociologist with a special interest in health as a welfare state project, I set my focus on how health is defined, handled, and problematized.  My theoretical aspirations lead my focus specifically on how health policies and interventions are based on certain epistemes that are legitimized institutionally and performed or redefined in practice by professions and citizens. I especially find health policies on more intimate spheres of social life interesting in the light of the strengthening of welfare in contemporary societies. This interest has led to exploring encounters in health care services as well as birth policies through the theoretical lenses of biopolitics or ethics of care.