Refusing cesarean sections to protect fertile futures

• Published in: American ethnologist 2019-05, Vol.46 (2), p.190-201
• Main Author: LOWE, LUCY
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cesarean section; Circumcision; Female circumcision; Insecurity; Marriage; Migration; Mothers; Refugees; Refusal; Resistance; Surgery; Women
• ISSN: 0094-0496; 1548-1425
• DOI: 10.1111/amet.12759

ABSTRACT While cesarean sections are increasingly used worldwide, Somali refugee women in Kenya are rejecting the operation in attempts to protect their future reproductive capacities. In a context of displacement and insecurity, women's reproductive bodies can be crucial to their security and strategies for onward migration. Somali women's resistance to C‐sections mirrors prevalent practices of female circumcision, since they are both perceived by physicians as medically harmful but by women as essential to achieving gendered expectations of marriage and motherhood. The strategic modification and protection of reproductive capacities are situated in multifaceted social and political ruptures, and women's refusal of surgery is part of a long‐term, future‐oriented pursuit of motherhood and survival. [motherhood, refugees, cesarean section, female circumcision, migration, resistance, Somalia, Kenya] Aanlataabankarin Iyadoo qaliinka ilma galeenka uu si badanayo aduun weynaha, dumarka qaxootiga Somalida ee Kenya joogaa waxay diidayaan isku dayga qaliinka si ay u ilaaliyaan awooda mustaqbalka tarankooda. Macnaha guud oo ah barakaca iyo amni darada, taranka jirka haweenka wuxuu noqon karaa muhiim amnigooda iyo xeelada dhinaca socdaalkooda qaxootinimo. Mawqifka Dumarka Somalida ee iska caabitanka qaliinka ilma galeenku wuxuu ku qotomaa caadooyinka gudniinka fircooniga, maadaana ay labadaba dareemayaan caafimaad ahaan inuu halis ku yihiin laakiin dumarka ay muhiim u tahay iney gaadho rajadeeda jinsiga ee guurka iyo hooyo nimadaba. Xeelada waxka bedelida iyo ilaalinta awoodaha taranka waa kaalin u baahan isku dayo badan dhinaca bulshada iyo qaybsanaanta siyaasadeed, diidmada haweenka ee qaliinka waa qayb wakhti dheer qaadatay, una baahan raadinta mustaqbal jiheysan oo hooyonimo iyo badbaadinba. [hooyoonimo, qaxootiga, qalliinka ilma galeenka, gudniinka haweenka, socdaalka, iska caabinta, Soomaaliya, Kenya]