ABSTRACT
It has been well established that adverse birth outcomes haunt Black women and birthing people’s reproduction in the US. Critical scholarship posits that racism within the biomedical complex is one cause of those outcomes. Increasingly, the support doulas provide to Black birthing people is viewed as contributing to better outcomes. But doulas also labor in the realms of social reproduction and political engagement. While the work they do generally exposes fault lines in the biomedical system, this chapter interrogates the content and context of doulas’ labor in relation to Black reproduction. In this chapter I explore how the logics of Black doulas’ labor extends beyond birthing. Reflecting on the politics of doula work and the precipitating factors that lead some to engage in political work, I ask, How do doulas address the needs not only of their clients, but of the communities in which their clients live?
