Institutionalising Childbirth in Ethiopia: Shifting Socio-medical Support Systems in the Age of Modernity, 1930-1965 (360G-Wellcome-096720_Z_11_Z)

As a micro-historic example of the institutionalisation of healthcare in Ethiopia, I will investigate the shifting nature of socio-medical support mechanisms for women undergoing childbirth in the nation from ca 1930-1965. With the Empress Zauditu and Princess Tsahai Memorial Hospitals (built in Addis Ababa by Emperor Selassie in 1934 and 1951, respectively) as case studies, I will examine the ways in which the Emperor's public relation schemes and national policies of 'modernisation' pitted indigenous health systems in Ethiopia against Western-influenced care. My analysis will be largely qualitative, relying heavily on anthropological accounts from the time period on indigenous forms of medicalised and ritualised childbirth and midwifery. I will then utilise extensive archival material on the administration, training of physicians/nurses, and outpatient care at the Zauditu (Addis Ababa and online) and Tsahai Hospitals (Addis Ababa and London) to elucidate the space allowed for indigenous forms of medical care within these 'modern' institutional settings that, while commissioned and overseen personally by the Emperor, were largely funded and staffed by foreign personnel. My research will contribute to a greater understanding of Ethiopian medicine in the 20th century and the way in which imperial policies altered the culture it strove to defend.