Birthing Systems, Bio-medicine and Gender-Based Power Relationships: Patrilinearity and Childbirth in Amed (Est Bali, Indonesia)

This article offers an anthropological overview about birth processes in a small village in Bali. I would like to investigate how the naturalization of this event is often used to justify control over the physical and social body of women, their descendants and social group. Central focus of the analysis will be the consideration of how women’s position within society is determined by a complex system of rules, values, and medical practices deeply conditioning childbirth sphere that legitimates hierarchical divisions and gender inequality.