Forms and Ethics of Baloch Midwifery

Abstract

In Pakistan, the rise of unnecessary uterotonic injections to induce childbirth, sometimes also resulting in hysterectomies, has women returning to dhīnabogs (Baloch midwives) to heal the iatrogenic effects of biomedical interventions; and reinforcing local assumptions about the benefits of Balochi dhawā/medicine, dhīnabogiri or midwifery, and homebirths. Drawing on ethnographic research in Balochistan the chapter traces how dhīnabogs’ work, ethical stances, and critical outlook concerning the iatrogenic effects of biomedical interventions are non-oppositional forms of everyday resistance. The protective role of dhīnabogiri is embedded in the intimate aspects of childbirth that profoundly structure the ethical relationship between the labouring woman and her dhīnabog. This relationship is defined not only by dhīnabogs’ concern for the well-being of mother and child, but also by their character and ethics, which are inscribed in the vernacular and social authorized praxis of dhīnabogs , kawwās (expert midwives) and balluk (granny midwives).