Updated October 2017 -
Journal of American Culture, Book Review, Summer 2017
The Journal of American Culture review can be read here.
North American Dialogue, Book Review, Summer 2017
The North American Dialogue review can be read here.
The Cresset, "An Order for Delivery," Summer 2017
The Cresset review can be read here.
Patheos, "Birth and Eating as Resistance Movements", Jan 30, 2017
The Patheos review can be read here.
(Update: A longer version can be read in The Cresset link above)
Feminist Collections, "Ovens & Ovaries: Reclaiming Food & Birth in a Capitalist Society", Fall 2016
The Feminist Collections review can be read here.
Times Literary Supplement, Sept 9, 2016:
This review does make me want to read the Ramaswamy book, and oh, what an interesting idea, maybe I should write a book about birth...
TLS review can be read here.
Huffington Post, August 29, 2016:
A review of BUN by Fabio Parasecoli, Associate professor and director of Food Studies Initiatives, New School - NY can be read here.
PsycCRITIQUES, American Psychological Association, July 11, 2016
The PsycCRITIQUES review can be read here.
Times Higher Education, July 4, 2016
"A sociologist in the world of midwifery is introduced to food studies, and spots parallels everywhere with the world of birth. Her wittily named study ranges insightfully from Julia Child to natural childbirth, and from Lamaze and Pavlov to labour times, Cesareans and kale chips as she considers how 'birth and food, once so profoundly part of women's world of production, ultimately came to be acts of consumption,.. framed inside a big machine, an industrialized, medicalized, and capitalist system'".
(Can be read here)
"Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers- strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength." - Barbara Katz Rothman
About this site
Welcome to my site. My friends and I created this to share some of my work and - more importantly - to invite an exchange of ideas.
I've been a sociologist for a long time. and ventured into a number of different fields over the years: birth and midwifery (which I still think of as my home base); the new genetics and reproductive technologies; medical sociology; bioethics; issues in disability; adoption; race; and now food studies too. Some of you might know my work in one of these areas, others in a different area. What would be really interesting would be to have people talk, with each other and with me, across areas. I've tried, with some success over the years, to talk to midwives about genetics; to encourage people who do new reproductive technologies to think about home birth; to have bioethicists pay more attention to what medical sociology can offer; to get people in Food Studies thinking where midwifery issues overlap with their concerns. These are invariably the most fun and stimulating conversations I've ever been a part of. Connecting people, connecting ideas, weaving the webs that pull us together - nothing could make me happier. So this site, a gift from my friends, is my place to do this kind of weaving.
We've grouped my work by area - but please, if you're here because you have gotten anything useful out of my work in one area, do poke around for a minute in another. Bring your insights and wisdom and experience to a new place, a new issue. Let's see what we can weave together.
- Barbara Katz Rothman
