Looking at archival images with midwifery students at Oxford Brookes
Ethel Burns, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Oxford Brookes, invited me to give a seminar to her midwifery students, to discuss the value and interpretation of historical images of childbirth. The trainee midwives were particularly interested in the depictions of births attended by a midwife and female assistants (in the sixteenth century), and the cultural significance of religious attitudes in different societies. Looking at images from the more distant past opened up discussions about how midwives learn to understand and respect individual beliefs and cultural practices today.