Call for Papers - GENDER Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und

Call for Papers - GENDER Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und

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Redaktion GENDER  Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW  BiWi Universität Duisburg-Essen 45127 Essen
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Carola Bauschke-Urban, Beate Kortendiek,
Carmen Leicht-Scholten, Sigrid Metz-Göckel,
Sabine Schäfer, Anne Schlüter
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Jenny Bünnig, Judith Conrads
Editorial Department
GENDER
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NRW
Universität Duisburg-Essen, Berliner Platz 6–8,
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www.gender-zeitschrift.de
7 March 2016
Call for Papers
Pregnancy, Birth and Infancy:
Between Life Project and Professional Interpretations
In the discussion on the increasing contributions to professional liability insurance in the
context of obstetrics both the practical vocational situation of midwives and the health care of
women and children during pregnancy, birth and infancy have gained increasing political and
media attention in Germany in recent years. In the context of midwifery practice two other
lines of development can be named in addition to this controversy: the professionalization
and academization of midwifery training and the establishment of midwifery science as a new
academic discipline.
Medical care and the experience of pregnancy and childbirth are characterized by a growing
medicalization and mechanization – keywords: reproductive medicine, prenatal diagnosis,
rising cesarean rate – as well as "healthicization". Pregnant women are being held
responsible not only for their own health but for the health of their unborn children. In this
context, following Paula-Irene Villa, Stephan Möbius and Barbara Thiessen (2011: 12), one
can ask in how far childbirth (and the decision to have children in general) becomes another
life project of the "entrepreneurial self". While pregnancy and birth have been rather marginal
topics in social sciences for a long time – despite the historical pioneer work of Barbara
Duden – the number of publications on this complex has increased in recent years, with a
focus on qualitative studies on the experience of pregnancy. Examples are Kati
Mozygemba's study on pregnancy as a status passage (2011) as well as Eva Sänger's
studies on processes of subjectification and embodiment through biomedical technologies
(e.g. 2013). Stefan Hirschauer et al. came up with a suggestion how pregnancy and prenatal
sociality can be captured theoretically and analytically from a sociological perspective (2014).
Various contributions to discourses and practices of birth have been collected in the abovementioned anthology by Villa et al. (2011).
With the establishment of midwifery science at about the same time, a new academic
discipline in Germany has been introduced that focuses on pregnancy, birth and infancy as
subjects of academic research. As in the already more established midwifery studies in
Britain and North America – see for example, the British Journal of Midwifery – the main
focus of research is on the conditions of midwifery care for women and children and on the
promotion of physiological processes. The topic is approached from different perspectives.
For example, existing midwifery care structures are evaluated and new models of care are
developed, such as the concept of a midwife-led delivery room (e.g. Sayn-Wittgenstein et al.
2011, Bauer 2011). Other focal points are the professional role of midwives but also the
experience of pregnancy from the women's perspective (e.g. Lange et al. 2015).1
The central purpose of this special issue is to set off a dialogue between these parallel
discussions. Four questions are in the foreground:
a) How are pregnancy and childbirth discussed, organized and experienced under the
conditions of medicalization and mechanization on the one hand, and a new understanding
of health and the professionalization of lifeworld crises on the other hand?
b) What structures of maternity care exist with regard to pregnant women, women in labor
and new parents?
c) Which criteria and definitions are used (by whom) to determine a "good" pregnancy, a
"good" childbirth and a "good" early family phase? Who can be identified as responsible
stakeholders?
d) To what extent does gender matter to these – presumably multiple and contradictory –
attributions, positionings and strategies?
We welcome contributions from the humanities, cultural and social sciences as well as
midwifery and health sciences and medicine!
Possible questions/research topics:
• Use of different techniques in pregnancy and labor (e.g. PGD, reproductive
medicine, egg freezing, prenatal diagnosis, surgical techniques, alternative medicine)
• Modes of childbirth: caesarean delivery on maternal request, hospital births, out-ofhospital births
• Health care for pregnant women, women in labor and breastfeeding mothers in
different settings and social situations
• Perceptions of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting
• Perspectives of (expectant) parents and their experience of pregnancy and birth and
how these are presented, e.g. in blogs
• Pregnancy, childbirth and early family phase in less established family forms, such as
homosexual partnerships or single parents
• Pregnancy and childbirth as subjects and/or battlefields of feminist debates
• Discussing highly controversial and/or standardized topics, such as caesarean
delivery on maternal request, breastfeeding or out-of-hospital births
1
Bauer, Nicola (2011). Der Hebammenkreißsaal: Ein Versorgungskonzept zur Förderung der physiologischen Geburt.
Osnabrück: Universitätsverlag.
Hirschauer, Stefan; Heimerl, Birgit; Hoffmann, Anika & Hofmann, Peter (2014). Soziologie der Schwangerschaft. Exploration
pränataler Sozialität. Stuttgart: Lucius.
Lange, Ute; Schnepp, Wilfried & Sayn-Wittgenstein, Friederike zu (2015). Die Sicht von Schwangeren mit chronischer
Erkrankung auf die Versorgung durch Hebammen, Ärztinnen und Ärzte. Journal für Qualitative Forschung in Pflege und
Gesundheitswesen, 2(2), 136–144.
Mozygemba, Kati (2011). Die Schwangerschaft als Statuspassage: Das Einverleiben einer sozialen Rolle im Kontext einer
nutzerinnenorientierten Versorgung. Bern: Huber.
Sänger, Eva; Dörr, Annalena; Scheunemann, Judith & Treusch, Patricia (2013). Embodying Schwangerschaft: pränatales
Eltern-Werden im Kontext medizinischer Risikodiskurse und Geschlechternormen. GENDER. Zeitschrift für Geschlecht,
Kultur und Gesellschaft, 5(1), 56–71.
Sayn-Wittgenstein, Friederike zu; Schäfers, Rainhild; Bauer, Nicola H.; Kümper, Julia & Foraita, Ronja (2011).
Forschungsprojekt zum Hebammenkreißsaal: Chance für Veränderungen. Deutsche Hebammen Zeitschrift, 12, 26–28.
Schäfers, Rainhild (2011). Subjektive Gesundheitseinschätzung gesunder Frauen nach der Geburt eines Kindes. Self-rated
health (SRH) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in women after childbirth. Münster: Monsenstein & Vannerdat.
Villa, Paula-Irene; Möbius, Stefan & Thiessen, Barbara (Hg.). (2011). Soziologie der Geburt. Diskurse, Praktiken und
Perspektiven. Frankfurt/M.: Campus.
Procedure and timetable
Please submit a one- to two-page abstract by 8 May 2016. Non-German speakers are
welcome to submit their articles in English. The Editorial Department works with the online
editing system OJS. We would therefore like to ask you to register as an author of the journal
GENDER at www.budrich-journals.de/index.php/gender and to submit and upload your
abstract there. A guideline for the use of OJS is available at www.genderzeitschrift.de/index.php?id=manuskripte.
Once your abstract has been assessed and judged suitable for this issue, you will receive an
invitation to submit. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 31 May 2016. The deadline
for submission of the final manuscript is 1 November 2016. Manuscripts must not exceed
50,000 characters (including space characters). All submissions will be reviewed in our
double-blind peer review process based on which the final selection of contributions to be
published will be made. The editors may give instructions to revise the contribution, which is
the rule rather than the exception. In case of a high number of positively peer-reviewed
contributions, the Editorial Department reserves the right to make a final selection of articles
and to publish some contributions in a later issue.
GENDER. Journal for Gender, Culture and Society
GENDER. Journal for Gender, Culture and Society was founded in 2009 as a journal on
women and gender studies. It provides a forum for academic debate and discourse between
academics and practitioners.
The journal covers a broad range of social and cultural topics, addressing both socio-political
issues on equality and justice as well as issues regarding the staging and cultural
interpretation of gender. The journal aims to cover a wide range of topics and academic
disciplines in which women, men and gender issues are reflected. Given the journal’s multidisciplinary setting, we welcome analyses from, for instance, sociology, educational science,
political science, cultural science and history which correspond to the interdisciplinary nature
of gender studies. Analyses of local, regional and global influences on gender relations are
also of interest.
GENDER. Journal for Gender, Culture and Society is published in three issues a year and
some 480 pages per annum. Contributions to the special issues and to the free section are
double-blind peer reviewed.
Contributions to the free section are always welcome, irrespective of the focus of the special
issue.
Do you have any questions?
For further information please contact the editorial team of the special issue "Pregnancy,
Birth and Infancy": Prof. Dr. Ute Lange, (Guest Editor, Maternity Science, Hochschule für
Gesundheit Bochum; [email protected]), Dr. Charlotte Ullrich (Guest Editor,
General Practice and Health Services Research, University of Heidelberg;
[email protected]), Dr. Beate Kortendiek (Editor, University DuisburgEssen; [email protected]) or the editorial team ([email protected]).
A style sheet for authors is available at http://www.gender-zeitschrift.de/en/manuskripte/
We look forward to receiving your contribution.