Rachael Kulick

  • bio

    kulick web site.jpg

    Ph.D. Candidate
    909 Social Sciences Building
    267 19th Avenue South
    Minneapolis, MN 55455
    kuli0015@umn.edu

    Current CV

     December 3rd, 2005

  • Dissertation Research
    Achieving Home Birth in the United States and the Netherlands

    In the United States, home birth is rare (>1% of all births) and in some states the practice of home birth midwifery is illegal. In the Netherlands, birth at home is part of the mainstream health care system (30% of births take place at home) and home birth midwifery is fully institutionalized. Using interviews with midwives and home birthing women along with fieldnotes from prenatal appointments, births, and postpartum visits, I explore what home birth means to its participants in the U.S. and the Netherlands. I ask how birthing women, midwives, and societies "achieve" home birth. I pay special attention to the practices surrounding home birth, the social institutions (e.g., insurance, professional organizations, and government health agencies) that shape it and are shaped by it, and the cultural/ideological assumptions that support it.

    January 24th, 2007

Department of Sociology - University of Minnesota
909 Social Sciences Building, 267 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-624-4300 Fax: 612-624-7020 E-mail: socdept@soc.umn.edu