Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century

289 Pages·2019·10.196 MB·English

by  Brianna Theobald

Reproduction on the Reservation
CritiCal indigeneities
J. Kēhaulani Kauanui and Jean M. O’Brien, series editors
Series Advisory Board
Chris Anderson, University of Alberta
Irene Watson, University of South Australia
Emilio del Valle Escalante, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kim TallBear, University of Alberta
Critical Indigeneities publishes pathbreaking scholarly books that center
Indigeneity as a category of critical analy sis, understand Indigenous
sovereignty as ongoing and historically grounded, and attend to diverse
forms of Indigenous cultural and po liti cal agency and expression. The
series builds on the conceptual rigor, methodological innovation, and
deep relevance that characterize the best work in the growing field of
critical Indigenous studies.
Reproduction on the Reservation
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism
in the Long Twentieth Century
Brianna Theobald
The University of North Carolina Press Chapel hill
© 2019 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Merope Basic by Westchester Publishing Ser vices
Manufactured in the United States of Amer i ca
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Theobald, Brianna, author.
Title: Reproduction on the reservation : pregnancy, childbirth, and colonialism
in the long twentieth century / Brianna Theobald.
Other titles: Critical indigeneities.
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2019] | Series:
Critical indigeneities | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2019004398 | isbn 9781469653150 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9781469653167 (pbk : alk. paper) | isbn 9781469653174 (ebook)
Subjects: lCsh: Indian women— North Amer i ca. | Maternal health services—
North Amer i ca. | Reproductive rights— North Amer i ca. | Indians of
North Amer i ca— Health and hygiene.
Classification: lCC rg962.5.i6 t44 2019 | ddC 362.198200973— dc23 lC rec ord
available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019004398
Cover illustration: Of a Path Known to the Old Ones, mixed media. 2017. By Ben
Pease— Apsàalooke (Crow)/Tsitsistas (Northern Cheyenne) Creative.
A previous version of chapter 3 was published as “Nurse, Mother,
Midwife: Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail and the Strug le for Crow W omen’s
Reproductive Autonomy,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 66, no. 3
(2016): 17–35.
This book is dedicated to those in the strug gle for
reproductive justice—past, pre sent, and future.
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Contents
Acknowl edgments  xi
Introduction  1
Chapter one
Childbearing and Childrearing  18
Chapter two
To Instill the Hospital Habit  44
Chapter three
Nurse, Mother, Midwife  71
Chapter four
Relocating Reproduction  99
Chapter five
Our Crow Indian Hospital  123
Chapter six
Self- Determination Begins in the Womb  147
Epilogue  173
Twenty- First- Century Stories
Notes  185
Bibliography  227
Index 249
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Illustrations and Map
illustrations
Women of All Red Nations (WARN) second annual report cover 2
Crow girls and young women at Crow Agency Boarding School 23
Mary and Lizzie Shane (Crow) 27
Apache mother and infant in cradleboard 52
Ellen Kallowat Kenmille (Kootenai) and nephew Camille Kenmille 53
Susie Walking Bear (Crow) graduation photo graph 76
The Crow Agency Hospital 77
The Yellowtail family (Crow) 81
Family on relocation 106
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail (Crow) in Eu rope 137
Katsi Cook (Mohawk) 166
Nicolle Gonzales (Navajo) examines patient 179
Map
The Crow Reservation 21