History Department Brown Bag Colloquium: Kathryn Gallien

Traditional practices are sometimes opposed by medical establishments not because they are ineffective, but because they are typed as culturally "backward." This was the case with indigenous midwives in Bolivia. Between the 1940s and '60s, Bolivian universities offered midwifery training programs that shaped young students into models of Mestiza Womanhood who would improve the nation by transforming indigenous birthing and child-rearing practices.