Embracing the Obstetric Imaginary: Chuukese Women, Migration, and Stratified Reproduction

When a new biomedical hospital was built in Chuuk, women were encouraged to forgo home births and seek obstetric care. Chuuk's infrastructure deteriorated over time, however, and the hospital became known as the place of death. Women maintained faith in obstetric technology despite these conditions; they simply sought better technology in Guam or a US state. Yet, even upon migrating, women continued to suffer disproportionately poor birth outcomes. In this article, I explore how Chuukese women maintained faith in obstetric technology, elucidating the power of the "obstetric imaginary" in the context of neocolonial development, migration, and stratified reproduction.