BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:19568-147f0dcf97c3aaa03398b391e575cb2b@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260903T135114Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261023T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261023T160000 SUMMARY:“Rethinking Birthing Skill: Amplifying African Indigenous Birthing Epist emologies and Practices in Maternal Health Discourse” DESCRIPTION:\nJoin the Department of Africana Studies for a celebration of Grace Hampton's legacy\, a lecture from Esther Ajayi-Lowo\, Ph.D.\, a facilitated Q&\;A session\, a short video presentation\, and delicio us catered food and cake! Advance registration required.\n\nAjayi-Lowo i s assistant professor of women and gender studies at Texas Christian Uni versity. Her passion as a scholar-activist-teacher lies at the intersect ion of gender\, race\, health care\, and social justice. She is a full-s pectrum doula with research interests in indigenous birthing epistemolog ies\, African feminisms\, transnational feminism\, Black maternal health \, and global reproductive justice. Ajayi-Lowo’s research has been suppo rted by prestigious institutions\, including the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She has published on sexuality\, reproductive justice\, African and Afr ican diasporic birthing\, and decolonial pedagogy more broadly. Her arti cle “Safe Motherhood Initiative: Whither African Indigenous Birthing Kno wledge?” was published in Meridians in 2024. Ajayi-Lowo is currently rou nding off her book manuscript\, Decolonizing Childbirth: Mothers\, Midwi ves\, and Modernity in Nigeria\, an ethnographic exploration of contempo rary African Indigenous birthing epistemologies and approaches.\n\nRead more about the lecture topic below!\n\n“Rethinking Birthing Skill: Ampli fying African Indigenous Birthing Epistemologies and Practices in Matern al Health Discourse”\n\nBirthing skills have been defined solely by West ern medical standards. “Skilled” birth attendants\, for instance\, are d efined as those with Western medical birthing training\, including docto rs\, nurses\, midwives\, and OBGYNs. In contrast\, the assumption of bei ng “unskilled” hinges on others without Western biomedical training. Hen ce\, birth attendants such as traditional midwives\, who do not possess Western medical training\, are typically marginalized in maternal health policies and strategies\, creating a hierarchical dichotomy between “sk illed” and “unskilled” birth attendants. In addition\, traditional midwi ves’ lack of birthing skills is typically premised on the lack of eviden ce of such skills on maternal health. However\, measuring birthing skill s through a Western medical lens is colonial as it dismisses other kinds of Indigenous and traditional birthing epistemologies and practices. Ta king a decolonial feminist turn\, this paper challenges the concept of b irthing skill by validating African Indigenous birthing knowledges that have been carried from generation to generation. Expanding what counts a s evidence of birthing skills\, it centers the perspectives of Yoruba ag bebi (traditional midwives) and the birthing experiences of abiyamo (mot hers) who use agbebi’s birthing services in Nigeria. This paper draws on oral narration\, interviews\, focus groups\, paper documentation\, and years of researchers’ ethnographic observation to amplify Agbebi’s uniqu e intergenerational birthing know-how and highlight the testimonies of m others who have received quality care and experienced positive maternal and infant outcomes.\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/even t/grace-hampton-lecture-2026/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Join th e Department of Africana Studies for a celebration of Grace Hampton's le gacy, a lecture from Esther Ajayi-Lowo, Ph.D., a facilitated Q&A ses sion, a short video presentation, and delicious catered food and cake! A dvance registration required.

Ajayi-Lowo is assistant pro fessor of women and gender studies at Texas Christian University. Her pa ssion as a scholar-activist-teacher lies at the intersection of gender, race, health care, and social justice. She is a full-spectrum doula with research interests in indigenous birthing epistemologies, African femin isms, transnational feminism, Black maternal health, and global reproduc tive justice. Ajayi-Lowo’s research has been supported by prestigious in stitutions, including the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She has published on s exuality, reproductive justice, African and African diasporic birthing, and decolonial pedagogy more broadly. Her article “Safe Motherhood Initi ative: Whither African Indigenous Birthing Knowledge?” was published in Meridians in 2024. Ajayi-Lowo is currently rounding off her book manuscr ipt, Decolonizing Childbirth: Mothers, Midwives, and Modernity in Ni geria, an ethnographic exploration of contemporary African Indigeno us birthing epistemologies and approaches.

Read more about the lec ture topic below!

“Rethinking Birthing Skill: Amplifying African I ndigenous Birthing Epistemologies and Practices in Maternal Health Disco urse”

Birthing skills have been defined solely by Western medical standards. “Skilled” birth attendants, for instance, are defined as thos e with Western medical birthing training, including doctors, nurses, mid wives, and OBGYNs. In contrast, the assumption of being “unskilled” hing es on others without Western biomedical training. Hence, birth attendant s such as traditional midwives, who do not possess Western medical train ing, are typically marginalized in maternal health policies and strategi es, creating a hierarchical dichotomy between “skilled” and “unskilled” birth attendants. In addition, traditional midwives’ lack of birthing sk ills is typically premised on the lack of evidence of such skills on mat ernal health. However, measuring birthing skills through a Western medic al lens is colonial as it dismisses other kinds of Indigenous and tradit ional birthing epistemologies and practices. Taking a decolonial feminis t turn, this paper challenges the concept of birthing skill by validatin g African Indigenous birthing knowledges that have been carried from gen eration to generation. Expanding what counts as evidence of birthing ski lls, it centers the perspectives of Yoruba agbebi (traditional midwives) and the birthing experiences of abiyamo (mothers) who use agbebi’s birt hing services in Nigeria. This paper draws on oral narration, interviews , focus groups, paper documentation, and years of researchers’ ethnograp hic observation to amplify Agbebi’s unique intergenerational birthing kn ow-how and highlight the testimonies of mothers who have received qualit y care and experienced positive maternal and infant outcomes.

For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/grace-hampton-lecture-2026/< /a>

LOCATION:Barbara I. Dewey Meeting Room, W043 Pattee Library END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR