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Book Review
| Japanese American Midwives: Culture, Community, and Health Politics, 1880–1950. By Susan L. Smith. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005. ix + 280 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $50.00, cloth; $25.00, paper.)
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Susan L. Smith's Japanese American Midwives offers a useful insight into the intersections of separate(d) histories. Employing race, gender, and transnationalism as key frames of interpretation, the author brings together the histories of Japanese immigrant women (especially midwives or sanba), of race politics, and of health care in the American West and Hawai'i between 1880 and 1950. Firmly grounded in empirical research and conceptually sophisticated, this book exemplifies what can be attained from efforts to internationalize American history. |
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With a focus on the everyday lives of Japanese immigrant (Issei) sanba, Smith looks into the complex meaning of midwifery both as a healthcare profession and as cultural practice. This book thus places the experience of immigrant midwives in dual contexts: the development of public health policies and the formation of an ethnic community. In light of state healthcare regulations, the author provides a glimpse into the cleavages between dominant white and ethnic Japanese perceptions over midwifery, which scholars have generally defined as of secondary importance to professional medical doctors. Far from a simple entrepreneurial endeavor as described thus far, Smith shows, "Japanese American midwives and their communities treated midwifery as a health profession" enjoying much respect and authority within their community (p. 4). Her careful analysis of negotiations between white health officials and Issei sanba illuminates the agency of the minority women—and their community—in setting the terms of social activities despite state impositions. To the author, race was a central matter of concern because the entanglements unfolded on the battleground of racial politics, which was articulated in state health policies and its attempts to control. |
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Looking inwardly into ethnic community politics, the author also sheds light on the dual roles of Issei sanba in cultural preservation and change, especially relating to childbirth practice. This analysis complicates orthodox interpretations of Japanese immigrant community building and cultural adaptation, which have drawn largely on male perspectives and experiences. In addition to this gendered analysis, Smith treats Issei women not simply as "Americans," but also as "transnationals," whose identities resist a single-nation framework. |
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Smith's methodology partially explains the success of her effort to reframe Japanese American history in terms of race, gender, and transnationalism. Though she does not read Japanese, she makes an excellent use of sanba diaries and personal papers through the assistance of translators. Combined with government documents and interviews, the vernacular immigrant sources enable the author to reconstruct the world of Issei midwives in a fuller, more personal, and nuanced fashion—a model for scholars interested in immigrant experiences on their terms. |
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This does not, however, mean that Japanese American Midwives offers a comprehensive understanding of Issei sanba experiences. Smith's individual focuses constitute case studies and snapshots of life experiences that revolve around certain sanba in specific local contexts. Notwithstanding, this book is certainly an important contribution to limited scholarship on Issei women, as well as growing literature on transnational Japanese American history. Smith has also skillfully woven an Asian immigrant experience into the history of racial politics and American health care, demonstrating convincingly that Issei midwives were cultural workers as well as healthcare providers in the American West and Hawai'i. Overarching multiple fields of historical studies, Japanese American Midwives is an important read for Asian Americanists, historians of healthcare politics, and specialists in race relations in the West. |
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| Eiichiro Azuma
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| University of Pennsylvania |
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ISSN 1939-8603
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