Good enough mothers: practicing nurture and motherhood in Chiapas, Mexico

GOOD ENOUGH MOTHERS -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I - Contexts -- Chapter 1 - La Orilla: Coletas and Coloniality -- Part II - Childbearing Politics -- Chapter 2 - Bety and Rosa -- Chapter 3 - Bridging the Gap: Barrio Midwives -- Chapter 4 - Cris, Sofi and Esme: The Birth Centre -- Part III - Nurture Work -- Chapter 5 - Lupita and Carlita -- Chapter 6 - Sara, Bania and Lila: Good Enough Mothers -- Conclusion - Translating a Local-Global Maternal Health -- Appendix - On Doing Fieldwork with Children -- References -- Index.

Motherhood in Mexico is profoundly shaped by the legacy of colonialism. This ethnography situates motherhood in a critical global health analysis of maternal health inequalities and interventions in the southeast state of Chiapas. Using a transitional life course framework, it demonstrates how the transition to motherhood is never complete. Once a good mother is defined, she becomes undefined, the goal posts moved, and the rules confronted