Chapter 2, “Marie Laveau’s Generational Arts: Healing and Midwifery in New Orleans,” turns from Saint Domingue to the immigrant communities of New Orleans many of whom were of Haitian heritage. Through an excavation of the myth and legacy of New Orleans “voodoo queen” Marie Laveau, I argue that Laveau renegotiated her body as capital, resisting social, cultural, and legal forces that sought to commodify, exoticize, or criminalize her. Instead, she became a community leader, healer, and possibly a midwife. Situating Laveau within a longer genealogy of Black women’s birthwork and midwifery within the nineteenth-century US South and circum-Caribbean, this chapter argues for alternative ways of imagining reproduction, kinship, and energy economies. Ultimately, it puts pressure on the myriad myths surrounding Laveau’s dynastic legacy, drawing attention away from white heteropatriarchal logics of touristic consumption, and instead allowing for bodily autonomy, love among women, and the notion of gestation and labor as an autoregenerating, independent economy.

The health outcomes and health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in remote communities are different to those living in regional and urban communities. This chapter discusses the role of remote area nurses (RANs) and their scope of practice, along with the challenges they may face while working in remote Indigenous communities. It establishes the need for RANs to integrate with the community and lead health initiatives. The work RANs may undertake is discussed, as well as the additional qualifications, including immunisation, sexual health endorsements and x-ray licences, which may be of benefit. The chapter discusses the different burden of disease and injury in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities, and the holistic way these communities often perceive health. The chapter calls for cultural safety in remote area nursing, and suggests that respecting differences in culture, communication and health education is critical. The author concludes by reflecting on her own experience as a remote area nurse.

This chapter discusses Indigenous birthing practices in remote locations. It begins by considering the traditional practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and the importance of Grandmothers’ Law. It explores traditional practices and taboos around diet, labour, family and breastfeeding for pregnant and post-partum women. It then discusses the changes implemented after colonisation as missionaries became more common and Indigenous women were made to leave their communities and families to give birth in hospitals in larger regional locations. The chapter guides readers through providing culturally safe care to pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, before looking at the shift to reopening birthing centres in remote locations to allow Indigenous women to once again safely give birth on Country.

This chapter discusses midwifery practices in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in urban and regional areas. It begins by considering the challenges Indigenous women face when they experience maternity care in mainstream healthcare settings, and the importance of providing and receiving culturally safe maternity care. Traditional birthing practices used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women prior to colonisation are discussed. The chapter provides an overview of maternal and neonatal health today by considering statistics related to the health of Indigenous mothers and infants, fertility rates and gestational issues Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women may face, along with recent improvements in antenatal care and infant health outcomes. Current birthing practices are discussed, before Indigenous-led models of care are presented as ways to provide culturally safe care to pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The chapter considers the role of Indigenous nurses and midwives in contributing to better maternal outcomes for Indigenous women and their babies, and provides concrete ways in which all nurses and midwives can provide culturally safe care.

This chapter considers cultural safety within the context of Australian nursing and midwifery practice, using Irihapeti Ramsden’s definition of cultural safety as a framework. The chapter begins by considering the effects of colonisation on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and how nurses must be aware of their patients’ cultures (which extend beyond ethnicity) in order to effectively treat them. The chapter discusses the journey practitioners take from cultural awareness through cultural sensitivity to achieve cultural safety. The chapter suggests that nurses must use self-reflection as a tool to understand their own beliefs, values and attitudes and how these may impact the healthcare they provide. This chapter is a call to all nurses and midwives to understand the differences between themselves and their patients, and to provide culturally safe care to all patients.

Abortion has been available in Sweden, since 1975, on request and without regards to reason, for up to 18 weeks’ gestation and in specific circumstances through 21 +6 weeks’ gestation. Abortion care is viewed as core component of obstetric and gynecological and midwifery care. Medical students in Sweden all receive theoretical training and are offered clinical rotation to abortion care. Similarly, all students in midwifery receive theoretical training in abortion and some clinical training. Core competencies for the registered nurse-midwives include the ability to care for women in abortion care including post abortion contraceptive counselling and provision. For residents in obstetrics and gynecology, training in abortion care is mandatory. Not permitting conscientious objection for any professional cadre guarantees prompt access to services for women seeking abortion care in Sweden, consistent with the principle that abortion is a right and a core service to which access should not be delayed.

This chapter analyzes the origins of midwifery as a profession, its governance, and the state’s management of birth.