Geopol, McKinnon 2014

Geopolitics of birth

Why are birth spaces considered geopolitical?

They are sites of intense territorial and power contestation.

What is the birthing body described as?

A hybrid body shared between mother, child, and medical systems.

How is birth medicalised?

Through technologies, professionals, and hospital systems.

What actors shape the birthing space?

Midwives, doctors, institutions, technologies, and the mother.

What is the key feminist geopolitical claim about birth?

Birth is an “intimate geopolitics.”

How does birth connect micro and macro politics?

Personal experience links to laws, institutions, and medical systems.

What is the role of discourse in birth?

It interacts with material forces (bodies, tools, hormones).

What binary is common in birth literature?

Home birth vs hospital / natural vs medical.

What does Robbie Davis-Floyd argue?

Birth socialises women into accepting patriarchal medical authority.

What critique is made of Davis-Floyd?

It overemphasises hierarchy (patriarchy model).

What does feminist geopolitics add to birth studies?

Focus on embodiment, practice, and lived experience.

What is Actor-Network Theory (ANT) used for?

Mapping human + nonhuman actors in birth.

What does ANT reject in birth analysis?

Pre-existing structures like fixed patriarchy explanations.

What is Akrich & Pasveer’s key contribution?

Birth is produced through distributed human and nonhuman actants.

What is a key nonhuman actor in the case study?

A wheelchair enabling hospital transfer and changing power relations.

What happened in the New Zealand birth case?

A homebirth became hospital birth due to medical concern.

How does hospital vs home space affect birth?

It changes autonomy, consent, and bodily control.

What role do hormones play in birth geopolitics?

They shape bodily experience and emotional attachment.

What is the “territory” in birth geopolitics?

The body, hospital/home space, and medical control systems.

What is the main argument about birth and geopolitics?

Birth is a networked, material, and embodied geopolitical event.