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:	H Social Sciences (General) HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
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
_version_	1777413614354825216

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

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