Sensitive Midwifery - Issue 43 - July2019

Continued on page 13 Birth Looking back at natural birth in South Africa In Part 1 of this topic, Sensitive Midwifery writer Kelly Norwood-Young considers South Africa’s unique history and how this impacted natural birth. T he history of natural birth in South Africa is intrinsically tied to the history of midwifery and as such, the history of the country itself. It’s a tale of hugely discrepant worlds, parallel but antagonistic systems, and vastly different approaches to birth. While there is little documentation regarding the way that births were conducted prior to the arrival of the Dutch in 1652, we know via oral history that women of the tribe, mothers and grandmothers, acted as midwives to labouring women. Midwifery skills were developed with experience, and knowledge of herbs was passed on through the generations. Official historical records of midwifery in South Africa begin with Henrietta Stockdale who arrived as a missionary in 1874 and worked to legalise nurse/midwifery training. By then, medical missionaries had set up numerous missionary hospitals in the country, and towards the end of that century, South Africa was the first country in the world to register a nurse-midwife (Sister Louisa Jane Barrett) and officially recognise the legitimacy of the profession. Importantly, we must acknowledge the colonial and medical bias of much of midwifery’s documented history, and the consequent loss of knowledge about truly natural birth customs and practices. That 20th century trend In her online blog article ‘Midwifery and apartheid in South Africa’, midwife Marianne Littlejohn also reflects on the cost of colonialism, and reminds us that Western medicine should not automatically, and sometimes erroneously, be considered superior, nor confused with evidence or scientific research. She implores midwives to ‘be the guardians of a birthing woman’s inner wisdom’. Broadly, South Africa’s documented history of natural birthing, particularly in the 20th century, mirrors that of the Western world. The decline of home births in favour of the hospital setting, 12 eSensitive Midwifery Magazine Issue 43