A Voyage to Motherhood: Pacific Mothers' Lived Experiences of Pregnancy, Childbirth, Postnatal Care and Early Motherhood, 1950-1995

Abstract

Pacific mothers’ experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, postnatal care and early motherhood in the late twentieth century is a topic, a hidden history that has seldom piqued the interest of scholars until this very thesis. While scholars have referred to the experiences of Pacific women in the wider history of childbirth, little has been written that focusses solely on the first-hand experiences of Pacific mothers, except for the study of community health scholar Patricia Donnelly whose 1992 PhD focussed on the childbirth experiences of 50 Samoan women in the early 1980s in Wellington. Further, scholars of Pacific studies, public health and community health in recent years have begun to explore Pacific maternities in order to make sense of the health outcomes of an ever-growing Pacific demographic within Auckland. Nonetheless, within Auckland’s maternity services little research has been done to consider the history and in particular the perspectives of Pacific women who have given birth, in order to make sense of their experiences. It is important to note that histories of childbirth both internationally and nationally have largely been couched in feminist terms that push the idea that the medical profession has forced their hand on a natural phenomenon. Using the voices and experiences of twelve Pacific women, this thesis charts their journey to becoming mothers and their experiences of Auckland’s maternity services focussing on the period 1950-1995. The study explores their experiences against an evolving maternity service and in a period of social change which Pacific women generally embraced. Despite some literature that has espoused the ideas of a controlling medical profession and of irresponsible Pacific mothers who failed to immunise or breastfeed their babies, this thesis has discovered that these Pacific women embraced the medical advice and care they received to ensure their babies were well and thrived, whilst not abandoning their own culture.