This text shows the role that globalization plays in changing childbirth practices and its implications for midwifery practice and education. It makes a case for redesigning the midwifery curriculum to reflect the interconnectedness of childbirth, midwifery education and practice around the globe.

Is the experience of childbirth becoming "globalized"? Is the encroachment of the western medical model dehumanizing a profoundly human experience? If so, what can midwives and midwife educators do about it? These are the questions at the heart of this text which highlights the role that globalization plays in changing childbirth practices and its implications for midwifery practice and education. Built around the vivid personal stories of women and midwives experiencing childbirth in four very different cultures, it presents the experience of midwives everywhere and makes a strong case for redesigning the midwifery curriculum to reflect the interconnectedness of childbirth, midwifery education and practice around the globe.

Autobiographical beginnings
conceptual framework
the defining characteristics of globalization
the nature of modernity - society, development and risk
childbirth in Africa - characterizing African rural and urban society
childbirth in Malaysia
American women in childbirth
women in childbirth in England
symbolic exchanges in childbirth - reflections from the case studies
symbolic exchanges in childbirth - the influence of science and medicine
cultural implications for midwifery education and practice
the midwifery curriculum
conclusions and recommendations.