Chapter 4: Childbirth and Health: Cultural beliefs and Practices among Cambodian Women
Overview
Every society provides a system of knowledge and behaviours for coping with the life crisis of childbirth. In different cultures, pregnancy, birth and a period after birth are each, therefore, experienced differently (Manderson and Mathews, 1981b). However, the system of knowledge and behaviours of all societies is observed in order to maintain wellbeing and preserve life of a new mother and her newborn (Muecke, 1976). In this chapter the experience of Cambodian women is used as a paradigm case for analysing cultural interpretations of childbirth in Cambodian society.
The study reported in this chapter stems from my personal involvement with the Cambodian community in Victoria, Australia. In 1988, as a research assistant at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, I conducted a study of health beliefs and practices within the Cambodian community. One concern was to examine whether Cambodian people perceive childbirth as a contributing cause of illness. During this investigation, most women interviewed expressed their concerns about childbirth events. They gave several explanations indicating that childbirth events can lead to illness in people. These included, for example, eating proscribed food, failing to follow restricted customs and rituals, and failing to honor Krou Kamnaef (a guardian spirit who protects a newborn child). However, the study was not focused on childbirth practices.
Speaker/ Author
PRANEE LIAMPUTTONG RICE
Pranee was born in a small Malay town in the south of Thailand. She received her undergraduate and master's degrees from a Thai university. Pranee came to Australia to undertake her doctoral degree at Monash University in 1982. She has two daughters. Pranee is Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia. Previously she taught in the La Trobe School of Sociology and Anthropology. Her particular interests are in issues related to cultural and social influences on childbearing, childrearing and women's reproductive health. She has published several books and papers in these areas. Three of her books have been used widely in the health area: My 40 Days: A Crosscultural Resource Book for Health Care Professionals in Birthing Services (1993); Asian Mothers, Australian Birth (editor, 1994); and Maternity and Reproductive Health in Asian Societies (editor, with Lenore Manderson, 1996). Her most recent books are Qualitative Research Methods: A Health Focus (with Douglas Ezzy, in press) and Living in a New Country: Understanding Migrants' Health (editor, in press).
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