Bibliograph

Baby trouble in the last best West, making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939, Amy Kaler

Type

Label

Baby trouble in the last best West, making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939, Amy Kaler

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Baby trouble in the last best West

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionariesbibliography

Oclc number

978641041

Responsibility statement

Amy Kaler

Sub title

making new people in Alberta, 1905-1939

Summary

"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."--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

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

Classification