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Rhetorical (de)vices and the construction of a 'natural' caesarean

Abstract:

Meanings emerging from both popular and professional discourses, have the potential to shape the experience of childbirth. As an embodied practice, childbirth occupies a space in which many shifting meanings are engraved upon the birthing body. These inscriptions are enabled through the availability of reproductive technologies and legitimised in professional and popular discourses. It is in this space that the concept of a ‘natural’ caesarean surfaces in search of authenticity. This article draws from the ideas of Post-structuralism to examine how language can shape reality and argues that the choice for a caesarean section, as an alternative birth mode, is the product of social process and disciplinary practices. These discursive strategies have been played out on a number of platforms, the key of which is the appropriations of the media for the transposition of medical knowledge into common knowledge in the interests of popular appeal and willing truth.

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Caesarean section, discourse, post structuralism