Baby trouble in the last best West : making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939 /
Kaler, Amy, 1966-
Baby trouble in the last best West : making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939 / Amy Kaler. - Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, (c)2016. - 1 online resource
Includes bibliographies and index.
Cover; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction; 2 The Little Immigrant Who Comes into Our Homes: The Material Conditions of Childbirth; 3 Treasures: Multiple Economies of Reproduction at the Beulah Rescue Home; 4 Mothers' Duties: Eugenics, Sterilization, and the United Farm Women of Alberta; 5 "Perhaps You May Think Me Independent": The Right to Mothers' Allowance; 6 Unless the Infant Lives, the National Gain Is Nil: Infant Mortality as Failed Reproduction; 7 Conclusion; Notes; References; Index.
"Reproduction is the most emotionally complicated human activity. It transforms lives but it also creates fears and anxieties about women whose childbearing doesn't conform to the norm. Baby Trouble in the Last Best West explores the ways that women's childbearing became understood as a social problem in early twentieth-century Alberta. Kaler utilizes censuses, newspaper reports, social work case files, and personal letters to illuminate the ordeals that women, men, and babies were subjected as Albertans debated childbearing. Through the lens of reproduction, Amy Kaler offers a vivid and engaging analysis of how colonialism, racism, nationalism, medicalization, and evolving gender politics contributed to Alberta's imaginative economy of reproduction. Kaler investigates five different episodes of "baby trouble" including: the emergence of obstetrics as a political issue, the drive for eugenic sterilization, unmarried childbearing and "rescue homes" for unmarried mothers, state-sponsored allowances for single mothers, and high infant mortality. Baby Trouble in the Last Best West will transport the reader to the turmoil of Alberta's early years while examining the complexity of settler society-building and gender struggles."--
9781442663350 9781442663367
20169059170
Reproductive rights--History--Alberta--20th century.
Human reproduction--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Women--Legal status, laws, etc.--History--Alberta--20th century.
Single mothers--Social conditions--Alberta--20th century.
Parenthood--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Illegitimacy--History--Alberta--20th century.
Infants--Death--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Electronic Books.
F1078 / .B339 2016
Baby trouble in the last best West : making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939 / Amy Kaler. - Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, (c)2016. - 1 online resource
Includes bibliographies and index.
Cover; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction; 2 The Little Immigrant Who Comes into Our Homes: The Material Conditions of Childbirth; 3 Treasures: Multiple Economies of Reproduction at the Beulah Rescue Home; 4 Mothers' Duties: Eugenics, Sterilization, and the United Farm Women of Alberta; 5 "Perhaps You May Think Me Independent": The Right to Mothers' Allowance; 6 Unless the Infant Lives, the National Gain Is Nil: Infant Mortality as Failed Reproduction; 7 Conclusion; Notes; References; Index.
"Reproduction is the most emotionally complicated human activity. It transforms lives but it also creates fears and anxieties about women whose childbearing doesn't conform to the norm. Baby Trouble in the Last Best West explores the ways that women's childbearing became understood as a social problem in early twentieth-century Alberta. Kaler utilizes censuses, newspaper reports, social work case files, and personal letters to illuminate the ordeals that women, men, and babies were subjected as Albertans debated childbearing. Through the lens of reproduction, Amy Kaler offers a vivid and engaging analysis of how colonialism, racism, nationalism, medicalization, and evolving gender politics contributed to Alberta's imaginative economy of reproduction. Kaler investigates five different episodes of "baby trouble" including: the emergence of obstetrics as a political issue, the drive for eugenic sterilization, unmarried childbearing and "rescue homes" for unmarried mothers, state-sponsored allowances for single mothers, and high infant mortality. Baby Trouble in the Last Best West will transport the reader to the turmoil of Alberta's early years while examining the complexity of settler society-building and gender struggles."--
9781442663350 9781442663367
20169059170
Reproductive rights--History--Alberta--20th century.
Human reproduction--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Women--Legal status, laws, etc.--History--Alberta--20th century.
Single mothers--Social conditions--Alberta--20th century.
Parenthood--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Illegitimacy--History--Alberta--20th century.
Infants--Death--Social aspects--History--Alberta--20th century.
Electronic Books.
F1078 / .B339 2016