Ch.1 Introduction: the daughters of Hariti today / Geoffrey Samuel 1 Pt. I South Asia -- Ch.2 'We know how to do these things': birth in a Newar village / Barbara Johnson -- Ch.3 Knowing all the gods: grandmothers, god families and women healers in Nepal / Linda Iltis -- Ch.4 Contaminating states: midwifery, childbearing and the state in rural North India / Patricia Jeffery, Roger Jeffery, Andrew Lyon -- Ch.5 Midwives among others: knowledges of healing and the politics of emotions in Rajasthan, Northwest India / Maya Unnithan-Kumar -- Ch.6 The healer on the margins: the dai in rural Bangladesh / Santi Rozario -- Ch. 7 Hawa, gola and mother-in-law's big toe: on understanding dais' imagery of the female body / Janet Chawla -- Ch.8 'Baby-friendly' hospitals and bad mothers: manoeuvring development in the post-partum period in Tamil Nadu, South India / Cecilia Van Holden -- Ch.9 Tibetan and Indian ideas of birth pollution: similarities and contrasts / Santi Rozario, Geoffrey Samuel -- Pt. 2 Southeast Asia -- Ch.10 The demise of birth attendants in Northeast Thailand: embodying tradition in modern times / Andrea Whittaker -- Ch.11 Beranak and bekindu': discourses of risk and strength in childbirth and post-partum practice among Iban communities of Pakan / Amanda Harris -- Ch.12 Of paraji and bidan: hierarchies of knowledge among Sundanese midwives / Lynda Newland -- Ch.13 Embracing modernity: transformations in Sasak confinement practices / Cynthia L. Hunter

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