Abstract
The aim of the article is to explore the construction of a “normal birth” and of a “normal woman/mother”. The empirical material comes from field work in a birth clinic located in one of Sweden’s big cities. The chapter begins with a short overview of the Swedish welfare regime, with a particular focus on the (neo-liberal) changes that have occurred since the nineties. The second and third sections analyze the empirical material from the fieldwork, with regard to issues of gender, ethnicity and nationhood. These are followed by a brief conclusion.
Keywords: birth, gender, ethnicity, health care institutions, midwives, fear of childbirth, neoliberalism, welfare state transformations, birth rituals, racism.
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