Cultural Anthropology, BLOG 2- Childbirth: !Kung vs. American Perspectives and Practices

Pain is a universal feeling for a woman giving birth, however, the expression of pain is culturally learned. In chapter titled "First Birth", Nisa shared her pain experienced during her first childbirth. Nisa describes the labor pains as a "fire". Later on, Nisa shares the feeling which follows after the baby's head starts to come out: "...a pain like fire is at the lips of your vagina and the head and the hair on the head start pushing through." !Kung women are taught to not show or express this pain during childbirth. During labor, experienced women will sit against a tree and remain silent until the baby is birthed. This is partly to avoid attraction of the animals in the bush, but mostly the !Kung believe that expressing one's pain is a rejection of the baby. They believe that God will then try to take the baby back, through killing the baby and sometimes the mother. Because of this belief, pregnant !Kung women will try hard to maintain a "stoic" attitude towards birth throughout the pregnancy. The belief that expressing pain will kill the child aids many women to remain silent during childbirth. While Nisa shared that her natural inclination was to cry out in her pain, since Nisa's culture had taught her that this would kill her newborn, she was able to will herself into remaining quiet during childbirth. This behavior during labor seems almost impossible to American women because Americans have been taught that rhythmic breathing and releasing tension during childbirth will help ease the pregnancy. Our bodies truly develop the ability to endure physical labor through the cultural ideas around physical labor, specifically in childbirth.

I can attest as a young, American woman, that I would have a hard time keeping quiet if a baby was bursting through my loins. In America, we are taught to openly express our anger, pain, sadness, and even embarrassment. American movies and TV show laboring women huffing, puffing, whining, moaning, and sometimes even screaming from the pain. I would argue that while feeling pain is universal, the need to let air escape one's lungs to release pain is simply a cultural practice. Although more hyper or heavy breathing can take place when a human being is anxious or upset, !Kung women learn to not feel upset or anxious over having a baby. Having a baby is simply "women's work."

First, humans are conditioned into culture, and later it begins to serve them. The practices in childbirth for both American and !Kung society can provide aid in the process of a successful delivery. This is because beliefs do not only control the practices of American and !Kung childbirth, but each fulfillment of the beliefs will actualize each woman's body into performing the birth. Because American women believe that rhythmic breathing will help ease labor, they usually do. Similarly, since !Kung women believe it is important for the mother to remain quiet in order for the child and mother to live through childbirth, women are able to remain more silent than American women during labor. Alternatively, !Kung women who are not able to remain silent during childbirth often have difficulty in birthing the child. American women who remain tense and do not breathe in a rhythmic manner usually feel more pain during labor. Each childbirth practice aids women through childbirth because humans can be conditioned into their own culture.