‘Holistic Mothers’ or ‘Bad Mothers’? Challenging Biomedical Models of the Body in Portugal

Anna Fedele

doi:10.18352/rg.10128

Abstract

This paper is based on early fieldwork findings on ‘holistic mothering’ in contemporary Portugal. I use holistic mothering as an umbrella term to cover different mothering choices, which are rooted in the assumption that pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood are important spiritual occasions for both mother and child. Considering that little social scientific literature exists about the religious dimension of alternative mothering choices, I present here a first description of this phenomenon and offer some initial anthropological reflections, paying special attention to the influence of Goddess spirituality on holistic mothers. Drawing on Pamela Klassen’s ethnography about religion and home birth in America (2001), I argue that in Portugal holistic mothers are challenging biomedical models of the body, asking for a more woman-centred care, and contributing to the process, already widespread in certain other European countries, of ‘humanising’ pregnancy and childbirth.

Highlights

This article is based on early fieldwork findings about ‘holistic mothering’ in Portugal
I use the term holistic mothering as an umbrella term to describe different mothering choices that are rooted in the assumption that pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood are of crucial importance to the child’s development as well as to the wellbeing of the mother, and that there is a religious and spiritual dimension to both pregnancy and mothering
Considering that my fieldwork is ongoing, and that, to date, little research about the religious dimension of alternative mothering choices has been done in the social sciences, this article offers a first description of the phenomenon in Portugal as well as some initial reflections from an anthropological perspective

Summary

Introduction

This article is based on early fieldwork findings (since 2013) about ‘holistic mothering’ in Portugal. I will propose holistic mothering be regarded as a polythetic class, that is, characterised by a bundle of attributes, all of which are not necessarily possessed by each member of the class This approach allows me to respect my informants’ refusal to identify with specific social or religious groups on the one hand while pointing out how theories and practices related to Goddess spirituality are influencing. Many of my informants in Italy, Spain and Portugal embracing Goddess spirituality felt that they had ‘lost connection’ with ‘the Feminine’ and with ‘Mother Earth’, a disconnection they attributed to a long-standing patriarchal society that undermined women’s power and autonomy They saw this lost connection as one of the consequences of the sexual revolution in the sixties that led women to adopt a masculine way of life to gain equality in the workplace. The women emphasised how negative experiences related to gender, corporeality and reproduction within the wider family could affect the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth

Eller 1993

Conclusion