The University Press of Mississippi 

Birth Chairs, Midwives, and Medicine

By Amanda Carson Banks

A study of how birthing methods have evolved and how key practices have returned

There was a time when birth was treated as a natural process rather than a medical condition. Before
1800, women gave birth seated in birth chairs or on stools and were helped along by midwives. Then
societal changes in attitudes toward women and the practice of medicine made birthing a province of the
male-dominated medical profession.

In Birth Chairs, Midwives, and Medicine Amanda Carson Banks examines the history of the birth chair and
tells how this birthing device changed over time. Through photographs, artists' renditions of births,
interviews, and texts from midwives and early obstetricians, she creates an evolutionary picture of birthing
practices and highlights the radical redefinition of birth that has occurred in the last two centuries.

During the 1800s the change from a natural philosophy of birth to a medical one was partly a result of
heightened understandings of anatomy and physiology. The medical profession was growing, and with it
grew the awareness of the economic rewards of making delivery a specialized practice. In the background
of the medical profession's rise was the prevailing perception of women as fragile invalids. Gradually,
midwives and birth chairs were relegated to rural and isolated settings.

The popularity of birth chairs has seen a revival in the late twentieth century as the struggle between
medical obstetrics and the alternative birth movement has grown. As Banks shows through her careful
examination of the chairs themselves, these questions have been answered and reconsidered many
times in human history. Using the artifacts from the home and medical office, Banks traces sweeping
societal changes in the philosophy of how to bring life into the world. Amanda Carson Banks is Director of
Development for the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University,
Sacramento. Her articles have appeared in journals like Journal of American Folklore, Impromptu Journal,
and Women & Language

OCTOBER, 6 x 9 in., 176 pages (approx.), 52 b&w photographs, bibliography, index

ISBN 1-57806-171-7, unjacketed cloth, $48.00S

ISBN 1-57806-172-5, paper, $18.00T

October 3, 2000