28 episodes
Birthing and Justice with Dr Ruth De Souza Dr Ruth De Souza
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 17 Ratings
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Childbirth is supposed to be empowering, but for many birthing people it is not. For Indigenous women, immigrant women and women of colour, birthing within the western healthcare system can be anything but affirming. It can feel unsafe. In this raw and challenging talks series, health researcher, clinician and nursing educator Dr Ruth De Souza (RMIT University) hosts conversations about birth, racism and cultural safety with change makers working within the maternal health-care sector to break down the structures built on colonisation. This is a series that will give birthing people hope and power when they’re at their most vulnerable.
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Series 4 Episode 8: Favorite Iradukunda on decolonisation, justice and inclusion
Synopsis:
Diasporic nurse scholar Dr. Favorite Iradukunda studied in Rwanda, South Africa and the United States. She is a global nurse leader and commited to decolonising nursing through an African lens. She combines her research on advancing the holistic well-being of African-diasporic women, with activism in black birth equity and justice.
Notes:
Google Scholar
Dr. Favorite's personal website
Dr. Favorite Iradukunda on Twitter
Music:
Music in this episode includes ‘Native American Dream’ by AudioLion used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith. -
Series 4 Episode 7: Hannah Donnelly and Omar Sakr on centering the birth experience under capitalism
Synopsis:
Experiencing a “high risk” pregnancy and birth while growing a new life during the pandemic was transformative for Wiradjuri writer and producer Hannah Donnelly, and Arab-Turkish partner, writer Omar Sakr. We talk about queering birth, the administrative load of pregnancy, and the need for collective infrastructure to improve birthing experiences and outcomes for families and communities.
Notes:
Hannah
Blacklight: Ten Years of First Nations Storytelling edited by Hannah Donnelly
Arts and Cultural Exchange (ACE)
Westmead Dragonfly Midwifery
Omar
Non-Essential Work by Omar Sakr
Shelf Reflection: Omar Sakr
Three poems by Omar Sakr
Music:
Music in this episode includes ‘Dream Drone’ by Yigit Atilla, and ‘ZEN’ by All Bets Off used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith. -
Series 4 Episode 6 Sapna Samant on being a GP, creative practitioner and adoptive single parent
Synopsis:
Dr. Sapna Samant, is a GP, radio producer, film maker, activist, and single adoptive parent and is passionately committed to social justice. Both her creative work and medical practice strive for equity and work to rectify injustice wherever it occurs.
Notes:
Twitter
Mastodon
Sapna's blog
What Bridgerton gets right and wrong about being Indian
Music:
Music in this episode includes ‘Exclusiva One’ by Vzen Instrumental Beat used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith. -
Series 4 Episode 5 Aseel Tayah on connecting communities through creativity and storytelling
Synopsis:
Melbourne-based artist and cultural leader Aseel Tayah was born and raised in Jerusalem and is passionate about the role of the arts in connecting diverse communities across generations. Aseel uses art and storytelling to foreground the experiences of displaced people and advocate for artists of color, mothers, children and young people — changing the world, one project at a time.
Notes:
Aseel's website
Aseel Tayah: The home that lives within (YouTube)
Music:
Music in this episode includes ‘AERATE’ by Higher Power, and ‘Native American Dream’ by AudioLion used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith. -
Series 4 Episode 4: Sara Motta on feminine lineages, healing justice, and reconnecting to the ancestral Mother
Synopsis:
How do Indigenous communities weave together ancestral feminine lineages? This question is at the heart of Associate Professor Sara Motta’s praxis of transformation and collective liberation. Through a lens of feminised resistance, Sara, a proud mestiza salvaje, shares her healing journey from the wounds of patriarchal capitalist-coloniality, exploring restorative and reparative pathways of well-being and justice.
Notes:
Sara's personal website
Geneologies (M)otherwise
Weaving Enfleshed Citizenship (M)otherwise
Voices of el pueblo: the road to the Colombian elections
Decolonising critique in, against and beyond the business school
Decolonising (critical) social theory: Enfleshing post-Covid futurities
Music in this episode includes ‘ZEN’ by All Bets Off, and ‘AERATE’ by Higher Power used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith. -
Series 4 Episode 3: Alice Te Punga Somerville on fertility and making babies for the revolution
Synopsis:
Birthing holds a different significance for Indigenous communities that have experienced colonial attempts at elimination. For scholar, poet and irredentist Professor Alice Te Punga Somerville, (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki), birth is an act of resistance. She joins us to talk about her journey to parenthood and her experiences as a scholar who traverses between Indigeneity and migrancy.
Notes:
UBC academic page
Personal website
Alice Te Punga Somerville: My story as told to Elisabeth Easther
Alice Te Punga Somerville and the politics of italics
Important reading and writing questions for Alice Te Punga Somerville
Writing while colonised
Buy her first book of poetry
Music:
Music in this episode includes ‘SMOOTH LIFE’ by Killer Chops used under an Audio Standard Licence from Adobe Stock.
Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith.
Customer Reviews
An essential podcast for maternity care providers
I love this podcast and I’m thrilled that Season 4 has started for 2023. Ruth gives her guests the floor and her interviewing style allows their stories to shine. As HCP we need to understand the importance of intersectionality in birthing in order to truly make a difference. This is a great place to learn more. Ngā mihi Ruth.
Smart POC talk birthing and it’s everything we all need to know!
How to be a good ally? Engage in content created by POC and expand your lenses. The interview subjects offer scathing criticism of racism in the health system, in particular around birth. The emphasis here is fair and equitable access to at least decent health care and treatment in a service system, which most of us don’t receive, and this is true across most societal intersections. The lens in birth also allows us to see inside peoples private and special moments. Dr DeSouza is a warm and caring host, she gently moves through stories of pain, to joy, from power to struggle. It leaves the listener feeling listened to. You don’t have to have given birth to find real value in this perspective on justice. Thanks Ruth, I love it!
Healing old maternal wounds
Listening to Ruth’s moving interview with Habiba took me back nearly 40 years to when I gave birth to my first child. My own mother had died early in my pregnancy, and my maternal grandmother died the day my baby was due. Habiba’s account of the Somali customs around caring for the new mother brought me to tears. The loneliness and isolation I experienced in those early months as I navigated the profound changes that birthing initiates was shattering. To grieve for my mother at a time when I had never needed mothering more was a cruel introduction to my own mothering. I cannot even imagine how devastating it would have been to be torn from my culture as well. A mother’s group such as Habiba runs, where mothers are embraced as they are; without the concern for presenting their ‘best selves’, which is so exhausting and such a waste of precious energy, would have been life-changing for me. I can only marvel at the healing that Habiba’s work must be providing for so many. I only wish she’d been around when I needed her! Thank you Habiba and Ruth for helping me to soothe and heal my wounded maternal self, realising another layer of what a trial I survived. May all mothers be blessed with the compassionate care that Habiba offers.