CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Andrejic, Ana |
|---|---|
| Title | The Politics of Experience: The Discursive Contestation of Medical Management of Childbirth in Serbia |
| Summary | In this thesis I approach the analysis of discursive activity around medical management of childbirth in state hospitals in Serbia from the perspective of feminist theories that deal with the constructed nature of the concept of experience. Proposing a synthesis of the views of several authors, namely Joan Scott, Patrice DiQuinzio and Chantal Mouffe, and relying on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, I base the analysis on the idea that the concept of experience, whose content is negotiated by women’s civic initiative and other participants in public debate, represents a discursive “nodal point” and a contested element in the new articulation of discourse around childbirth. I find that women employ the stories about their experience of childbirth in order to provide the evidence of medical treatment and construct their identity, and that the credibility of their reports of experience is challenged on gender and professional bases. I argue that women’s reliance on reports of experience is strategic, and that it is characterised by the potential to establish the alliances with other actors in public sphere, creating what Laclau and Mouffe call “the chains of equivalence”. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/andrejic_ana.pdf |
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