Margaret MacDonald
Associate Professor
Office: Founders College 311
Phone: (416) 736-2100
Email: maggie@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
I am a medical anthropologist interested in how cultures of biomedicine, science, and technology shape ideas, practices, and materialities of gender, health, and the reproductive body. I have conducted ethnographic research within the global maternal health community, development NGOs in Senegal, and amongst midwives and their clients in Canada. I am the co-editor, along with Lauren Wallace and Katerini Storeng, of the recent volume Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health: from policy spaces to sites of practice (Springer, 2022).
Maternal Health in Senegal
Since 2016 I have collaborated with an NGO based in Dakar, Senegal that delivers maternal health programs in rural and remote areas of the country. The purpose of the research has been to understand the logic and practice of ‘global health' interventions and the experiences of local health professionals and community members.
Global Reproductive Health
My research in this area traces the development of international policy since the 1980s to promote safe motherhood and reduce maternal mortality. Drawing on visual, documentary, and narrative data from governmental, NGO and UN organizations, I pay attention to key debates and emerging tools in the effort to address maternal mortality in low resource settings: the controversial place of traditional birth attendants in maternal health; the production and uses of images (including, photography, film and infographics) in international campaigns as affective, aesthetic information about maternal mortality; and the emergence of new biomedical-technical solutions embedded in feminist politics around reproductive health (such as cell phone apps and the drug misoprostol) . This project intersects with my research in Senegal mentioned above.
Midwifery in Canada
My 2007 book, At Work in the Field of Birth: Midwifery Narratives of Nature, Tradition and Home (Vanderbilt University Press), is an ethnographic account of contemporary midwifery in Ontario in the wake of its historic transition from the margins as a grassroots social movement to a profession in the public health care system in the 1990s. The book describes the contested place of midwifery at that time vis a vis its foundational concepts of nature, tradition, and home as well as in relation to biomedical knowledge, institutions, and technologies. I continue to research and think about midwifery in Canada, including the history of the concept and practice of ‘informed choice’ and, most recently, a project on midwifery and the pursuit of reproductive justice during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
This is a multi year ethnographic reseach project, a collaboration with an NGO based in Dakar, Senegal that delivers maternal health programs in rural and remote areas of the country. The purpose of the research is to better understand the logic underlying global maternal health interventions and the experiences of local health professionals and community members they affect.
-
Summary:
This research project traces the development of global policy since the 1980s to promote safe motherhood and reduce maternal mortality. Drawing on visual, documentary, and narrative data from key governmental, NGO and UN organizations, I am orienting this project around key debates and emerging tools in the effort to address maternal mortality in low resource settings: the controversial place of traditional birth attendants in maternal health; the production and uses of photography and film in international campaigns as affective, aesthetic information about maternal mortality; and the emergence of new biomedical-technical solutions embedded in feminist politics around reproductive health. This project intersects with my research in Senegal mentioned above.
L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: From policy spaces to sites of practice. Chams, SW: Springer Nature. Open Access at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-84514-8
2007 At Work in the Field of Birth: Midwifery Narratives of Nature, Tradition and Home. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
L Wallace, M MacDonald and K. Storeng. “Introduction.” In L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: From policy spaces to sites of practice. Springer Nature, Pp 1-13.
“Senegal, Cell Phones, Maternal Health, 2018.” In Denielle Elliott and Matthew Wolf-Meyer (eds). Naked Fieldnotes. A rough guide to ethnographic writing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
2022 “The place of traditional birth attendants in global maternal health: Policy retreat, ambivalence, and return.” In L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: from policy spaces to sites of practice. Springer Nature, Pp 95-115.
2004 "Tradition as a Political Symbol in the New Midwifery in Ontario." In I L Bourgeault, C Benoit, and R Davis-Floyd (eds.). Reconceiving Midwifery: The New Canadian Model. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. Pp 46-66.
2012 “Natural Birth at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century: Implications for Gender.” In C Brettell and C Sargent (eds.). Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective (Sixth Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
and Ellen Foley. “The innovation imperative in global health: gendered futurity in the Sayana Press." Medicine, Anthropology, Theory. 9(2): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.9.2.5765.
2020. “Misoprostol: the life story of a life-saving drug.” Science, Technology & Human Values. (1-26) https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243920916781.
2019 "The Image World of Maternal Mortality: Visual economies of hope and aspiration in global campaigns to reduce maternal mortality." Humanity. An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and Development. 10(2):278-285.
2019. with Gorgui Sene Diallo. “Socio cultural contextual factors of an mhealth application to improve maternal health in Senegal: an ethnographic study looking at contextual factors of a mobile health intervention.” BMC Reproductive Health. 16: 141.
2018 “The Making of Informed Choice in Ontario Midwifery: A Feminist Experiment in Care.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 42(2): 278-294.
2017 “Why ethnography matters in global health.” Journal of Global Health. 7(2): 1-4.
2016 "The Legacy of Midwifery and the Women’s Health Movement in Contemporary Discourses of Patient Choice and Empowerment in Mainstream Biomedicine." Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. 15(1): 43-50
2011 The cultural evolution of natural birth. The Lancet. 378 (July 30): 394-395.
2006 “Gender Expectations: Natural Bodies and Natural Births in the New Midwifery in Ontario.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 20(2): 235-256.
2006 Bourgeault, IL, Luce, J, & MacDonald, M. “The caring dilemma in midwifery: balancing the needs of midwives and clients in a continuity of care model of practice.” Community, Work and Family. 9(4): 398-406.
2001 "The Politics of Representation: Doing and Writing Interested Research on Midwifery." Resources for Feminist Research. 28(1/2): 151-168.
2009 MacDonald, M and IL Bourgeault. “The Ontario Midwifery Model of Care.” In R Davis-Floyd and L Barclay (eds.). Birth Models that Work. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp 89-118.
2001 "Postmodern Negotiations with Medical Technology: The Role of Midwifery Clients in the New Midwifery in Canada." Medical Anthropology. 20: 245-276.
http://somatosphere.net/2013/07/the-biopolitics-of-maternal-mortality-anthropological-observations-from-the-women-deliver-conference-in-kuala-lumpur.html
Approach to Teaching
In 2023-24 I am teaching the following courses:
* ANTH 3200: Anthropology of Global Health
* ANTH 5225: Global Health and Humanitarianism
In the past I have taught undergraduate courses concerning the anthropology of reproduction; sex and gender; women, culture and society; medical anthropology; and public anthropology.
I advise graduate students at the MA and PhD level who are interested in the anthropology of medicine, science and technology, global health, reproduction, gender, and feminist ethnography and theory.
I am a medical anthropologist interested in how cultures of biomedicine, science, and technology shape ideas, practices, and materialities of gender, health, and the reproductive body. I have conducted ethnographic research within the global maternal health community, development NGOs in Senegal, and amongst midwives and their clients in Canada. I am the co-editor, along with Lauren Wallace and Katerini Storeng, of the recent volume Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health: from policy spaces to sites of practice (Springer, 2022).
Maternal Health in Senegal
Since 2016 I have collaborated with an NGO based in Dakar, Senegal that delivers maternal health programs in rural and remote areas of the country. The purpose of the research has been to understand the logic and practice of ‘global health' interventions and the experiences of local health professionals and community members.
Global Reproductive Health
My research in this area traces the development of international policy since the 1980s to promote safe motherhood and reduce maternal mortality. Drawing on visual, documentary, and narrative data from governmental, NGO and UN organizations, I pay attention to key debates and emerging tools in the effort to address maternal mortality in low resource settings: the controversial place of traditional birth attendants in maternal health; the production and uses of images (including, photography, film and infographics) in international campaigns as affective, aesthetic information about maternal mortality; and the emergence of new biomedical-technical solutions embedded in feminist politics around reproductive health (such as cell phone apps and the drug misoprostol) . This project intersects with my research in Senegal mentioned above.
Midwifery in Canada
My 2007 book, At Work in the Field of Birth: Midwifery Narratives of Nature, Tradition and Home (Vanderbilt University Press), is an ethnographic account of contemporary midwifery in Ontario in the wake of its historic transition from the margins as a grassroots social movement to a profession in the public health care system in the 1990s. The book describes the contested place of midwifery at that time vis a vis its foundational concepts of nature, tradition, and home as well as in relation to biomedical knowledge, institutions, and technologies. I continue to research and think about midwifery in Canada, including the history of the concept and practice of ‘informed choice’ and, most recently, a project on midwifery and the pursuit of reproductive justice during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
This is a multi year ethnographic reseach project, a collaboration with an NGO based in Dakar, Senegal that delivers maternal health programs in rural and remote areas of the country. The purpose of the research is to better understand the logic underlying global maternal health interventions and the experiences of local health professionals and community members they affect.
Role: PI-
Summary:
This research project traces the development of global policy since the 1980s to promote safe motherhood and reduce maternal mortality. Drawing on visual, documentary, and narrative data from key governmental, NGO and UN organizations, I am orienting this project around key debates and emerging tools in the effort to address maternal mortality in low resource settings: the controversial place of traditional birth attendants in maternal health; the production and uses of photography and film in international campaigns as affective, aesthetic information about maternal mortality; and the emergence of new biomedical-technical solutions embedded in feminist politics around reproductive health. This project intersects with my research in Senegal mentioned above.
All Publications
L Wallace, M MacDonald and K. Storeng. “Introduction.” In L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: From policy spaces to sites of practice. Springer Nature, Pp 1-13.
“Senegal, Cell Phones, Maternal Health, 2018.” In Denielle Elliott and Matthew Wolf-Meyer (eds). Naked Fieldnotes. A rough guide to ethnographic writing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
2022 “The place of traditional birth attendants in global maternal health: Policy retreat, ambivalence, and return.” In L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: from policy spaces to sites of practice. Springer Nature, Pp 95-115.
2004 "Tradition as a Political Symbol in the New Midwifery in Ontario." In I L Bourgeault, C Benoit, and R Davis-Floyd (eds.). Reconceiving Midwifery: The New Canadian Model. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. Pp 46-66.
2012 “Natural Birth at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century: Implications for Gender.” In C Brettell and C Sargent (eds.). Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective (Sixth Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
L Wallace, M MacDonald and K Storeng (eds). Anthropologies of Global Maternal Health: From policy spaces to sites of practice. Chams, SW: Springer Nature. Open Access at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-84514-8
2007 At Work in the Field of Birth: Midwifery Narratives of Nature, Tradition and Home. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
and Ellen Foley. “The innovation imperative in global health: gendered futurity in the Sayana Press." Medicine, Anthropology, Theory. 9(2): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.9.2.5765.
2020. “Misoprostol: the life story of a life-saving drug.” Science, Technology & Human Values. (1-26) https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243920916781.
2019 "The Image World of Maternal Mortality: Visual economies of hope and aspiration in global campaigns to reduce maternal mortality." Humanity. An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and Development. 10(2):278-285.
2019. with Gorgui Sene Diallo. “Socio cultural contextual factors of an mhealth application to improve maternal health in Senegal: an ethnographic study looking at contextual factors of a mobile health intervention.” BMC Reproductive Health. 16: 141.
2018 “The Making of Informed Choice in Ontario Midwifery: A Feminist Experiment in Care.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 42(2): 278-294.
2017 “Why ethnography matters in global health.” Journal of Global Health. 7(2): 1-4.
2016 "The Legacy of Midwifery and the Women’s Health Movement in Contemporary Discourses of Patient Choice and Empowerment in Mainstream Biomedicine." Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. 15(1): 43-50
2011 The cultural evolution of natural birth. The Lancet. 378 (July 30): 394-395.
2006 “Gender Expectations: Natural Bodies and Natural Births in the New Midwifery in Ontario.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 20(2): 235-256.
2006 Bourgeault, IL, Luce, J, & MacDonald, M. “The caring dilemma in midwifery: balancing the needs of midwives and clients in a continuity of care model of practice.” Community, Work and Family. 9(4): 398-406.
2001 "The Politics of Representation: Doing and Writing Interested Research on Midwifery." Resources for Feminist Research. 28(1/2): 151-168.
2009 MacDonald, M and IL Bourgeault. “The Ontario Midwifery Model of Care.” In R Davis-Floyd and L Barclay (eds.). Birth Models that Work. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp 89-118.
2001 "Postmodern Negotiations with Medical Technology: The Role of Midwifery Clients in the New Midwifery in Canada." Medical Anthropology. 20: 245-276.
http://somatosphere.net/2013/07/the-biopolitics-of-maternal-mortality-anthropological-observations-from-the-women-deliver-conference-in-kuala-lumpur.html
Approach to Teaching
In 2023-24 I am teaching the following courses:
* ANTH 3200: Anthropology of Global Health
* ANTH 5225: Global Health and Humanitarianism
In the past I have taught undergraduate courses concerning the anthropology of reproduction; sex and gender; women, culture and society; medical anthropology; and public anthropology.
I advise graduate students at the MA and PhD level who are interested in the anthropology of medicine, science and technology, global health, reproduction, gender, and feminist ethnography and theory.
