Abstract

PALOMO, Lina Rosa Berrio. Family networks and the role of men in maternal health care among Mexican indigenous women. Salud colect. [online]. 2017, vol.13, n.3, pp.471-487. ISSN 1669-2381.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18294/sc.2017.1137.

This article reflects on maternal mortality among indigenous women in Mexico and the changes that have occurred in care practices during pregnancy and childbirth. Through ethnographic qualitative research in the state of Guerrero between 2008 and 2012, which included over a year of fieldwork as well as in-depth interviews and surveys with indigenous women, the article analyzes the increasing medicalization of reproduction, the role of family networks in gestation, delivery and postpartum care, and the participation of men during childbirth, in dialogue with other anthropological research on maternal health in Mexico. Medical anthropology allows us to understand the medicalization of reproduction in indigenous contexts and identify the tension that characterizes family care networks, which both operate as protectors and mobilizers in seeking care and reproduce power relations marked by gender and generational conditions.

Keywords : Medical Anthropology; Indigenous Population; Maternal Mortality; Community Networks; Mexico.

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