ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the Midwives in Mexico: Situated Politics, Politically Situated, stems from our long-standing and deep interest in exploring and discussing the multi-layered knowledges, struggles and herstories of women who are midwives. It also emphasizes the ways in which all knowledges are partial, therefore, that a sufficient degree of objectivity can be gained only by first acknowledging our own situatedness and the lenses through which analyzes the research. The chapter considers the sort of midwifery described by the international definition to be excessively technical scholarly, with little adaptability in the current context of Mexico, we rather understand midwifery as a vocation in childbirth craft, related more to apprenticeship-based healing professions. In addition to interviewing various kinds of traditional and Indigenous midwives during our research, we have taken part in events in which their voices were heard, and have explored extensive literatures concerning.
