The Science of Humans Being. ... An Introduction AND Update on my Study

It's been a slow start to a new study, but it's happening.  Ironically, just as birth is often interrupted by technology, so is my study.  I was hoping a shiny new Kindle would be a money saver in this endeavor, but it ended up costing me a lot of frustration and time.  It turns out that you can only read Kindle- bought e-books on your Kindle, but not the free e-books provided by school.  That sucks, and I should have figured it out before jumping in.  It turned out that I didn't really love the Kindle anyway, so returning it was not heartbreaking.  However, now I have to catch up... I was really hoping to advert that process in this study.  I am remaining optimistic, however; it is so different studying something that you feel passionate about rather than the mundane because it doesn't seem like a chore.   Because I am doing an independent study, it is permissible to change the plan and reroute my bibliography.  Still, I have to read 16 books and write 32 pages by the end of my study.  The writing is never a problem; I'm primordially a word person.  The reading is more of a problem, as much as I love to devour the books, I am saddled with the obstacle of dyslexia, which means that it takes me longer than I would like to eat my way through the literature.

So, while I reevaluate my bibliography and place orders with Amazon, I kept forward by heading to the local libraries' (unsurprisingly) sparse pregnancy and birth collection.  This collection is aimed mainly at expecting parents, with books about making informed decisions, what to expect, and naming your child.  I found one of my books on my Bibliography, Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block. I also came across a book called Birth and subtitled The Surprising History of How We are Born.  This is by Tina Cassidy, an unfamiliar name.  I am unsure if I will include this in my study, but the title is auspiciously apropos to my study, An Anthropology to Childbirth.  The title of my study was chosen offhandedly, but appropriately reflects the basics of what I'm getting at.

My plan is to look into three basic areas of the root of childbirth: history, politics, and stories. They all are incredibly intertwined, in a way that is sometimes uncomfortable and blatantly horrifying.  And... well, the and is the most important part.  Because the "and" of a sentence replaces the "but", which means that there is hope.  Our history tells us that the birth scene has been a mess for a long time, the politics are directly related to Capitalism, and the stories give us a human insight to what's really going on, once you cut out the bureaucratic bullshit.  I am interested in cutting out the bureaucratic bullshit.

The third book I borrowed from the library is The Red Tent by Anita Diamont.    This is an ironic borrow because I have bought this book at least three times, but, like a good book should, it always ends up not returned.  I'm okay with that.  I hope it's story will evoke and inspire it's readers.  I will not go into a review of the book here, but I will indicate quite clearly that I believe that it is an incredibly important piece of literature that everyone should investigate- not just women.  I have read it several times, but not in a few years.  The reason why I included it in my study is because it really gets at the reason why telling our story, and specifically women telling their stories, is important.  History is important, but His Story is not the only story.  For too long, stories have been based on his prospective. Even now, in this modern age, the female voice, unless in a masculine manner, is primordially that of belong to the male species.  I'd like to take a short breath here to explain that I am not a man-hater, rather an observer of privileged and truth.  I also am strongly aware of this fact: whenever I am in a situation where I tell another women about being a doula or studying midwifery, they tell me their birth story; it doesn't matter if we are inline at a grocery store or in a parking lot-  this becomes the most important focus.  And I always hold the space- because I know they deserve to be heard, and because it is so imperative that I hear them.   I have always taken this as it is-  not for granted, not at all; holding space for a birth story is a blessing, not a burden.  However, I am now interested in investigating further the whys and hows of birth stories.  Why do we need to tell them?  How does that affect the Order of Things?  How does the Order of Things affect our birth stories? This, is anthropology, and this is how my study was named- it means the science of human beings.  To me, I read : the Science of Humans Being. 

I should end this post before I degrees further.  I am excited to investigate my two new books.  The Red Tent will be my fun reading for my study; my bed time buddy, my muse.  I met with a midwife a few weeks ago who made fun of the eager want-to-be apprentices who stated the reason they wanted to be a midwife was because they read The Red Tent.  I understand the joke which reflects upon how one romanticizes the midwifery career. While the work is  gorgeous and inspirational, it can also be amazingly exhausting, hard, and frightening.  I hear that and I know that.  And I know that there are reasons why it's a good story and that there is truth in there.  I do sometimes roll my eyes at myself, at how I am able to stay so fluttery about birth after working in it's long hard hours, but it is because I also understand deeply the calling.  Even if the women who are inspired to midwifery by the reading the novel are not actually meant to be midwives, I honor them:  they are simply answering the call to the stirring in their bones that sings to being a women... a song that has seeped through generations and is rooted deeply in our original mother.  So, bless them, and bless all of us, for we are stirring, which means that we are paying attention.  Which means we are Being... human.