The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.

Malay mothers’ postpartum experiences often include a period of confinement, similar to other Asian parallel practices of “doing the month”. This confinement period comprise of a set of beliefs, rules, and practices based on traditional eastern medicinal knowledge. Cultural practices of postpa...

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Main Author: Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/2/ecICOSSH2019p%20%281%29.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/8/The%20fading%20birth%20practice_ICOSSH2019.pdf
id iium-76869
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-768692019-12-31T03:30:06Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/ The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices. Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah H Social Sciences (General) HQ The family. Marriage. Woman Malay mothers’ postpartum experiences often include a period of confinement, similar to other Asian parallel practices of “doing the month”. This confinement period comprise of a set of beliefs, rules, and practices based on traditional eastern medicinal knowledge. Cultural practices of postpartum confinement, or berpantang, among urban mothers in Malaysia is competing with modern western medicine in the contemporary setting. The data for this presentation is from a phenomenological study utilising twelve open-ended interviews of couples and two focus group discussions with mothers on their experience of berpantang. Even though it is still widely performed, the elements within berpantang are handpicked by these mothers. According to these mothers, the traditional practices are thought to be inadequate or inferior when compared to the authority of western biomedicine. In events where medical practitioners give opposing advice, all mothers chose to adhere to, and accept biomedicine’s explanations and justifications over the traditional practice. The former cultural figure head, the bidan (midwife), is no longer a part of the birthing process in these urban settings. Urban mothers today rely on or refer to their maternal mothers for knowledge and guidance on berpantang. Urban mothers who practise berpantang describe the main reason for their practise was to maintain familial peace. This paper seeks to highlight social and cultural implications this hegemony has particularly on challenging the continuity in the chain of traditional knowledge. 2019-10-09 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/2/ecICOSSH2019p%20%281%29.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/8/The%20fading%20birth%20practice_ICOSSH2019.pdf Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah (2019) The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices. In: International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities 2019, Grand Milenium Hall ParkCity Everly Hotel Bintulu Sarawak Malaysia. (Unpublished)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
English
topic H Social Sciences (General)
HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
spellingShingle H Social Sciences (General)
HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah
The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
description Malay mothers’ postpartum experiences often include a period of confinement, similar to other Asian parallel practices of “doing the month”. This confinement period comprise of a set of beliefs, rules, and practices based on traditional eastern medicinal knowledge. Cultural practices of postpartum confinement, or berpantang, among urban mothers in Malaysia is competing with modern western medicine in the contemporary setting. The data for this presentation is from a phenomenological study utilising twelve open-ended interviews of couples and two focus group discussions with mothers on their experience of berpantang. Even though it is still widely performed, the elements within berpantang are handpicked by these mothers. According to these mothers, the traditional practices are thought to be inadequate or inferior when compared to the authority of western biomedicine. In events where medical practitioners give opposing advice, all mothers chose to adhere to, and accept biomedicine’s explanations and justifications over the traditional practice. The former cultural figure head, the bidan (midwife), is no longer a part of the birthing process in these urban settings. Urban mothers today rely on or refer to their maternal mothers for knowledge and guidance on berpantang. Urban mothers who practise berpantang describe the main reason for their practise was to maintain familial peace. This paper seeks to highlight social and cultural implications this hegemony has particularly on challenging the continuity in the chain of traditional knowledge.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah
author_facet Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah
author_sort Syed Hussien, Sh Fatimah Alzahrah
title The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
title_short The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
title_full The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
title_fullStr The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
title_full_unstemmed The fading birth practice: urban Malay mothers in Malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
title_sort fading birth practice: urban malay mothers in malaysia negotiating confinement practices.
publishDate 2019
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/2/ecICOSSH2019p%20%281%29.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/76869/8/The%20fading%20birth%20practice_ICOSSH2019.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:48:33Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:48:33Z
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