Karolina Kuberska Phd Thesis
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THE MEANINGS OF SOBREPARTO: POSTPARTUM ILLNESS AND EMBODIMENT OF EMOTIONS AMONG ANDEAN MIGRANTS IN SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, BOLIVIA Karolina Kuberska A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2016 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8524 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence The meanings of sobreparto : Postpartum illness and embodiment of emotions among Andean migrants in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia Karolina Kuberska This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews Department of Social Anthropology School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies 26th of July 2015 1. CANDIDATE ’ S DECLARATIONS I, Karolina Kuberska, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in January 2011 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in Social Anthropology in January 2011; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2011 and 2015. Date …………… Signature of candidate …………………… 2. SUPERVISOR ’ S DECLARATIONS I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in Social Anthropology in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date …………… Signature of supervisor 3. PERMISSION FOR PUBLICATION (To be signed by both candidate and supervisor.) In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: PRINTED COPY a) No embargo on print copy b) Embargo on all or part of print copy for a period of 5 years (maximum five years) on the following ground(s): o Publication would be commercially damaging to the researcher, or to the supervisor, or the University o Publication would preclude future publication o Publication would be in breach of laws or ethics c) Permanent or longer term embargo on all or part of print copy for a period of … years (the request will be referred to the Pro-Provost and permission will be granted only in exceptional circumstances). Provide a supporting statement for printed embargo request. ELECTRONIC COPY a) No embargo on electronic copy b) Embargo on all or part of electronic copy for a period of … years (maximum five years) on the following ground(s): o Publication would be commercially damaging to the researcher, or to the supervisor, or the University o Publication would preclude future publication o Publication would be in breach of law or ethics c) Permanent or longer term embargo on all or part of electronic copy for a period of … years (the request will be referred to the Pro-Provost and permission will be granted only in exceptional circumstances). Provide a supporting statement for electronic embargo request. Date …………….. Signature of candidate …………………… Signature of supervisor A BSTRACT This thesis concerns a postpartum condition known as sobreparto among female Andean migrants in the lowland city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. While sobreparto is a traditionally Andean illness, its occurrence in the lowland city of Santa Cruz opens up new dimensions of analysis. In addition to exposing transformations of the traditional understandings of health, illness, and the body, the study of this phenomenon in an atypical setting sheds new light on issues such as migration, social networks, biomedicalisation, or gender patterns. By means of narratives of lives interrupted by sobreparto , it is possible to locate this condition within a wider frame of life trajectories, exposing motifs beyond the temporarily dysfunctional body. I argue that the narratives of sobreparto can be used as a springboard for a study of transformations in the understandings of motherhood and womanhood, migration and social networks, as well as emotions. Looking at these processes through the lens of a postpartum illness also reveals the connections between the ill body, the troubled mind, and imperfect social relationships. On the one hand, sobreparto can be analysed at the micro-level – in terms of an understanding of the body, individual reproductive histories, or the availability of other people’s support. On the other hand, sobreparto constitutes a commentary on phenomena occurring at the macro-level, such as large-scale internal migration in Bolivia or the increasing domination of biomedicine as a model of health and illness. The city of Santa Cruz offers a unique setting for scrutinising these changes using a traditionally Andean postpartum illness as a point of departure. Being much more than a postpartum bodily dysfunction, sobreparto , therefore, can be used as a lens through which it is possible to see the interplay of social and political macro- and micro-processes in people’s lives at the time of reproduction. Table of contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 5 Introduction The meanings of sobreparto .......................................................................................... 9 The body that feels ................................................................................................ 16 The body that speaks ............................................................................................ 18 Feeling ill: Emotions and illnesses....................................................................... 21 Organisation of chapters ...................................................................................... 26 Chapter 1 Welcome to Santa Cruz: Everybody is a migrant ............................................... 29 The magnetism of scorching sun: A brief history of Santa Cruz de la Sierra ........................................................... 29 Who is not a migrant in Santa Cruz: The ambiguity of migratory entanglement ......................................................... 47 Andean zone migrants in Santa Cruz: New opportunities and social landscape ............................................................ 54 Chapter 2 What seems to be the problem? Migrant women in the city of biomedicalised pregnancy and childbirth ..... 61 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 61 Changing landscapes of national health insurance ............................................ 63 The importance of being pregnant: The personal and social implications of impending motherhood .................. 69 Being pregnant in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Privileging the biomedical point of view ............................................................ 72 Childbirth and woman’s choices: How much can be decided by her? .......... 81 Julia ......................................................................................................................... 84 Sobreparto : Postpartum illness outside the reach of biomedicine .................... 89 Doña Valentina ..................................................................................................... 90 Doña Sofía ............................................................................................................. 92 Chapter 3 Anthropology of the previously unspoken : Intimate memories and treasured pasts ................................................................ 97 Doña Irene ............................................................................................................. 98 Packed-away memories: Illness narratives and remembering the past ......... 107 Experiencing feelings: Emotions as data .......................................................... 113 1 Therapeutic interviewing and the vulnerable anthropologist ........................ 117 Chapter 4 Feeling ill: The mindful social body ..................................................................... 123 Aburrida: The unwilling body ............................................................................ 124 The body knows: corporeal sadness and awareness ....................................... 128 Doña Paula’s heart episodes .............................................................................