Episode 70: Dr. Andrea Ford on Doula Power, Payment, and Policy

Episode Summary

We sit down with Dr. Andrea Ford, anthropologist, doula, and author of Near Birth, to look at the strange, powerful, and often contradictory world of modern birthwork. Andrea sees the same field most of us are inside, but she sees it through a discipline that asks different questions.

What even is a doula today? A sister or a professional? A rebel or a regulated worker? We get into the messy magic of being a doula, what payment models do to the work, and how policy shapes the actual day a doula has. The book has plenty of edges, and Andrea is happy to follow them.

Useful for any doula or birth professional who has wondered why our field cannot quite agree on what we are, and for readers who like their birth thinking with an anthropological lens.

Listen to This Episode

Mentioned in This Episode

Dr. Andrea Ford, anthropologist and doula

Near Birth (book)