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Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 4: Midwifery and Birthing w/ Robina Khalid

Upstream

Upstream

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Part 4 of our ongoing Post Capitalist Parenting series, Robina Khalid joins us to talk about the process of birthing from the perspective of a midwife.

Robina is a mother of four, a writer, former academic, and activist. In this conversation, Robina shares with us the fascinating history of the field of obstetrics and its white supremacist, colonialist, and capitalist roots. We explore what midwifery is, the role it has traditionally played in society, and how capitalism's devaluing of this important health science and profession has negatively impacted the birthing experience in the contemporary world. Additionally, in this episode, Della shares about her recent birthing experience and Robina describes how we can simultaneously hold an appreciation for modern medicine while being critical of Western medicine under capitalism. Finally, Robina shares with us her vision of what post capitalist birthing could look and feel like and provides some invitations for everyone listening. 

Further resources:

Related episodes:

Intermission music: "Labour of Love" by Carsie Blanton

Covert art: Palestine Poster Project, Naim 1975

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Both our experiences around birth and our knowledge of birth are deeply embedded in larger,

0:26.6

racialized, economic, gendered relations of power, right?

0:29.6

So what that means is that the root causes of why birth is the way it is in our culture,

0:34.6

or white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and misogyny,

0:39.5

all, you know, colluding to create a context that is deeply oppressive and harmful to a lot of us.

0:46.1

You're listening to Upstream.

0:48.2

Upstream. Upstream.

0:50.0

Upstream.

0:51.0

A show about political economy and society that invites you to unlearn everything you thought you knew

0:57.0

about the world around you.

0:58.7

I'm Robert Raymond.

0:59.9

And I'm Della Duncan.

1:01.6

As we've explored in the first three episodes of our post-capitalist parenting series,

1:07.2

parenting under capitalism poses a variety of challenges to both parents and children that range

1:13.9

from inconvenient to, well, outright abominations.

1:18.7

And, unfortunately, and not surprisingly, the same is true for the process of birth itself.

1:25.6

Capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy have all shaped and reshaped

1:30.9

the birthing experience in detrimental and dangerous ways. And what we call alternatives, which just

1:37.9

happen to be practices that humans have been participating in for thousands of years, held by people

1:43.6

in professions like midwifery,

1:45.5

for example, these alternative modes of birthing have been pushed aside despite their positive

1:51.7

and healthful impacts on babies, parents, and society. Today we'll be joined by Robina Khalid,

...

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