Abstract

LAAKO, Hanna. Human Rights in Social Movements: The Case of Autonomous Midwives in Mexico. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2016, vol.61, n.227, pp.167-194. ISSN 0185-1918.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0185-1918(16)30025-3.

This article explores the link between human rights and social movements based on the case of the autonomous midwives in Mexico. Even though the term "new social movements", used during the 1980s, was abandoned because it was considered dichotomous, the text argues that the existing question between human rights and social movements remains current, especially in the context of development politics. Indeed, the case of autonomous midwives in Mexico unfolds the human rights dimension as a contested field in relation with issues of class and ethnicity. Based upon multiple sources and field work, the conceptualization of autonomous midwives as a social movement — which extends into a Latin American campaign on human rights at childbirth —, demonstrates the challenge implicit in the validity of the dominant perspective on reproductive rights in the development's realm.

Keywords : autonomous midwives; reproductive rights; human rights; social movements; clinical perspective.

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