Honoring Mothers and Babies: Respectful Historical Geographies of Maternal and Infant Mortality
Topics: Historical Geography
, Feminist Geographies
, Health and Medical
Keywords: historical geography, mothers, babies, children, race, spatial storytelling
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 59
Authors:
Meghan Cope, University of Vermont
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Abstract
The 1930 US Census asked married women to report how many children they had ever borne and how many were still living, providing a window into how extensive young death was in American families, but also revealing the high proportion of mothers who were bereaved. In the early twentieth century in the United States, it was not uncommon for families to experience the devastating loss of an infant or child due to prematurity, disease, accidents, and environmental conditions. Similarly, the relatively high maternal death rates of the era reflected the low priority put on women’s health generally, and especially during pregnancy and childbirth. Then, as now, the death rates of mothers and babies varied starkly by race, class, immigrant status, and geographical region. This project takes on the challenge of connecting infant and maternal deaths with the broad, interlocking processes of racism, capitalism, and patriarchy in the early 20th C. United States. Simultaneously, however, I seek to build a ‘respectful historical geography’ of these issues by combining cartographic, place-based, and narrative approaches. Drawing from public records, historical data, and personal accounts of loss, I hope to contribute to a deeper remembrance of mothers and babies gone too soon.
Honoring Mothers and Babies: Respectful Historical Geographies of Maternal and Infant Mortality
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract
Description
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