'Conscious' Parents and Patients: What are they learning at the Childbirth Preparation Courses

Abstract

The practice of teaching pregnant women at special courses is becoming increasingly popular due to the widespread ideology of intensive or conscious parenting. Based on the field materials including interviews with women and trainers, as well as participant observation, the article explores different styles of childbirth preparation presented in Russian parenting centres. The concept of authoritative knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth allows analysing the knowledge that is produced and transmitted in preparation for childbirth and characterize it as a kind of synthesis of (bio)medical and alternative knowledges. This approach also pays attention to the distribution of authority caused by the type of relationship between actors – horizontal or hierarchical. The article concludes that there are several main styles of preparation for childbirth which can be called radical, neoliberal, traditionalist, and reflexive. The radical version of preparation uses the rhetoric of a woman’s personal responsibility for the outcome of childbirth and does not view pregnant women as patients. The neoliberal paradigm, closely linked to the ideology of intensive motherhood, focuses primarily on the expert knowledge of physicians, but also on the knowledge of professional midwives and birthing leaders. The traditionalist approach appeals to patriarchal family values and gender roles and seeks to recreate an extended family atmosphere and benevolent communication in a ‘women’s circle.’ The reflexive approach favours psychological and meditative practices; preparation for childbirth is positioned as a creative project of the woman herself, in which she invests important meanings for herself.