ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses shifts in paradigms concerning childbirth held by rural and urban Bariba in People's Republic of Benin, West Africa. It suggests that changes in institutional control of childbirth and the increasing influence of an ideology of medical management of obstetrics may contribute to a reformulation of cultural constructs regarding birth. The chapter argues that increasing government control over the practice of obstetrics in Benin, and the concomitant diminishing of the responsibilities of household and lineage with regard to birth, carry implications for the management of birth. It also suggests that Bariba initiation rituals strategically influence the ideology of obstetrics. The chapter focuses on concepts of expected behavior in response to pain in Bariba society; the linkages between concepts of pain and therapeutic choice; and the implications of transformations in control of the delivery process for the pain response. Informants were interviewed regarding the method by which Bariba learn to suppress a verbal or behavioral response to pain.
