AbstractsMedical & Health Science

In the Philippines, family planning and the promotion of modern contraceptives have been a fundamental component of the country???s development initiatives. Although this relationship between reproduction and development has shifted from discourses and policies of population control to reproductive health and rights, neoliberal development goals continue to motivate reproductive policies in the Philippines. Framed in an interrogation of neoliberal development narratives, this thesis explores the everyday meanings of family planning, reproductive health, and ???responsible parenthood??? in Siquijor, Siquijor, Philippines. In this thesis, I investigate local midwives??? perceptions of family planning and ???responsible parenthood??? in tandem with their own experiences of motherhood and their desires for the future. This is a study about how development and family planning discourses are understood in the everyday. As government workers and members of the local community, midwives are uniquely positioned at the confluence of the state and the communities they serve. While they are privy to the intentions of the state, they, too, must negotiate these discourses and policies within their own lives. In their responses, these midwives shed light on how development and family planning discourse can be reappropriated to serve local and individual needs. While, national reproductive health policy in the Philippines continues to flounder in the context of neoliberal development, the midwives I interviewed provided alternative reproductive health frameworks rooted in their lived experiences. Advisors/Committee Members: Ahmed-Ghosh, Huma, Price, Kimala, Kim, Minjeong.