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KU ANTHROPOLOGIST Newsletter of the University of Kansas Department of Anthropology Spring 2002 Volume 13, Issue 1 The Pillarization of the Dutch INSIDE THIS Childbirth System Betty Cook ISSUE: he first thing I notice about The Netherlands, whenever I am T there, is the water. It is everywhere. It sits in canals, giving the entire country a charming, somewhat Venetian feel. It sits in count- Museum of Anthropoplogy less rivers, lakes, and, of course, the sea. It also comes in the form of Exhibit Space to rain. The weather report is given in terms of the percentage of sun on Close (Page 2) a given day, rather than the other way around. The author, Han van der Horst referred to it as “The Low Sky”. It is low, and grey and Excerpts from an constantly shifting. Therein lies the very character of the Dutch ap- interview with proach to Public Health, that of pillarization - a complex system of Barbara and representation with a decidedly pragmatic approach to change. Dennis Tedlock I chose The Neth- 5%. Was it, as the promi- city of Utrecht. Midwives (Page 3) erlands as my research nent Dutch obstetrician Dr. working within the hospi- site due to its long history G.J. Kloosterman said in tal in The Netherlands pro- New faculty of two things, the Dutch an interview, that Dutch vide what is considered members (Page custom of institutionalized women were “Calvinistic” “second-line” care, or care 4) and graduate home birth, and a highly in their attitudes about for women who need or students (Page 6) professionalized system pain in childbirth? What is want to give birth within a the cultural meaning of hospital setting. Women of direct-entry midwifery. I Faculty and was intrigued by two inter- childbirth pain? giving birth within this set- graduate student locking questions. ting are consid- ered “pathological” news (Page 8) I was curious as to The fact that Dutch midwives why American if it is a compli- women are al- didn’t have pain medication at cated delivery, or GSA News lowed little or no home, and Dutch women la- “sociaal”, if she (Page 7) medications or al- bored for so many years with- simply chooses to cohol during preg- out it, gives a different cultural within the home, Early Us (and nancy, but are al- as all of them had Them) In Africa meaning to labor pain. at one point in their lowed, even en- (Page 19) couraged, to use careers? I believe pain medications, particu- the answer is yes. larly epidural analgesia, What I was to find The fact that during childbirth. I was was that the Dutch system Dutch midwives didn’t equally interested in of home birth profoundly have pain medication at knowing how the system- effected midwifery prac- home, and Dutch women atic practice of midwives, tice within the hospital labored for so many years working as the primary where I conducted my re- without it, gives a different practitioners of childbirth search, that of The cultural meaning to labor in The Netherlands, kept Whilhelmina pain. Rather than the their epidural rate at only Kinderzeikenhuis, in the American assumption that continued on page 15 Spring 2002 KU ANTHROPOLOGIST Page 2 Museum of Anthropology Public Exhibition Space to Close This article is an edited version of the Office of University Relations Press Release of June 10, 2002 For the full release please see: http://www.ur.ku.edu The University of Kansas today an- are eliminated, appropriate state and university nounced a series of budget cuts to help absorb a regulations on notification will be followed. 3 percent, or $7.1 million, reduction to its state- "As difficult as these reductions are, they funded budget for the new fiscal year. are consistent with recent warnings from the gov- The measures include laying off staff and ernor that we prepare for midyear reductions. We eliminating vacant positions, reducing operating will continue to evaluate our operations for fur- budgets, closing or reorganizing units, and initi- ther cost-cutting measures throughout the com- ating a voluntary summer leave-without-pay pro- ing fiscal year," said Executive Vice Chancellor gram. In addition, for the first time since 1972, and Provost David Shulenburger. ❑ the university will be granting no regular salary increases. No other Kansas regents university will give regular salary increases this year either. KU ANTHROPOLOGIST The cuts are due to the reduction of the university's state general fund appropriation for fiscal year 2003 and the state's failure to add to the base budgets of all regents universities the funds necessary to cover salary increases for fis- Image: Petroglyphs at Spriggs Rock, Little River, cal year 2002 and rising health insurance costs. Kansas "These cuts are painful, especially those that involve the elimination of jobs," said Chan- The KU Anthropologist is produced yearly by cellor Robert Hemenway. "But difficult times call graduate students of the Department of Anthro- for difficult decisions. pology of the University of Kansas, 622 Fraser “We are making strategic, not across-the- Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045. Tel. (785) 864- board, cuts. These focused cuts allow for admin- 4103. istrative efficiencies and restructuring, and they protect productive research areas and important Please direct any questions and comments to teaching units." the editor at: [email protected] On the Lawrence campus, at least 22 filled positions will be affected, and 32 vacant po- Editor: Shannon Ryan sitions will be eliminated. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gwynne Jenkins Several research units on the Lawrence Layout: Jessica Craig, Shannon Ryan campus are being significantly reduced or phased Editorial Assistants: Melissa Rossow, out over the next year. The Kansas Geological Christina Bolas and Jessica Craig Survey will phase out a statistical research unit. State funding for the Paleontological Institute will Anthropology Department Web Address: be eliminated. The Museum of Anthropology will www.ku.edu/~kuanth/ close its public exhibition space. The museum's collections will remain available for educational Graduate Student in Anthropology Web and research activities, and curatorial work car- Address: www.cc.ukans.edu/~gsanth/ rying out provisions of the Native American graves repatriation law will continue. Summer programs Please check out the KU Anthropologist on currently under way and the fall Lawrence Indian the web. It can be read by following the links Arts show will go on as scheduled. on either of the above web pages. Thanks! In instances where employee positions Spring 2002 KU ANTHROPOLOGIST Page 3 An Interview with Barbara and Dennis Tedlock Transcribed by James S. Dick Last fall anthropologists Barbara and Dennis Tedlock visited Lawrence for a conference sponsored by the Lawrence Arts Center and The Cottonwood Review entitled Imagination and Place. The Tedlocks, widely known for their work with the Maya and the Zuni and as co-editors of the American Anthropologist from 1994-1998, spoke with the K.U. Anthropologist about the role and future of Anthropology in the academy and beyond. Barbara: My perspective as having been an Associate Dean in a large research university and going to nation- wide meetings with other deans is that I discovered that there are two very odd disciplines that deans always talk about, Anthropology and Classics. Of these two, there is only one that you must have in the academy and it is called Classics because it is our history. American history came right out of Roman history - give me a break! This attack on the discipline is Anthropologists have the au- part of what goes on. I think that we are suspect within the academy. dacity to feel that they can Now what deans do talk an awful lot about is multi-culturalism. Politi- speak about others who are dif- cally correct and in nice packages. Multi-culturalism has been created ferent than themselves, as identity politics. Anthropologists have the audacity to feel that they whether by gender, historical can speak about others who are different than themselves, whether by difference, ethnicity, or nation- gender, historical difference, ethnicity, or nationality. ality. ~Barbara Tedlock Dennis: I do much of my teaching in the humanities department, in English in fact. I’ve discovered that these people never read anthropologists, they never read ethnographies, they pretend that they don’t even exist. The people that do cultural studies have a mental block. The one thing that will always differentiate us from them and one thing that they will never, ever understand is fieldwork in the classic sense. Participate observation; whatever you want to call it. I prefer a kind of dialogical construction of that. The dialogical approach is not only the doing of fieldwork but also the writing about it or whatever else it is you produce after the fieldwork. The cultural studies people are those for whom culture is something you read about in the newspaper, “Oh I see there’s an interesting concert going on” or they get wind that there is a flea market somewhere around where there is a whole section of some strange ethnic group selling something. The difference is that anthropologists go home and have dinner with One way in which American anthropol- these people, maybe live in their homes and know what they are ogy could distinguish itself is not ex- doing behind the scenes, engage with them, eat the same food, actly by a return to a Boasian histori- maybe learn to speak the same language. The cultural studies cal-cultural approach but by coming people will never do this and that one of their big weaknesses. back from the field with documents that So as long as anthropologists are willing to go and do fieldwork include written, video and audio where and stay awhile with people, urban or rural or out on the high the other is articulate and expressive.