Abstract
In recent decades, global efforts to reduce maternal mortality have become a primary focus in health development agendas. However, challenges in providing quality healthcare remain complex, especially in resource-limited countries. Adrienne E. Strong’s book, Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania, offers an ethnographic perspective on the relationship between bureaucratic structures, resource constraints, and healthcare practices in Tanzania. This review examines Strong’s key concepts, such as good enough care, documented care, and fierce care, which highlight the ethical dilemmas faced by healthcare workers in delivering care under administrative pressures and limited facilities. The critique of the ethnographic approach in this book also addresses its limitations in offering broader systemic solutions and its relevance to other national contexts, such as Indonesia. This paper seeks to connect Strong’s analysis with global maternal health challenges, emphasizing the importance of understanding the interaction between global policies and local practices to improve maternal and infant healthcare quality.
Bahasa Abstract
Dalam beberapa dekade terakhir, upaya global untuk menurunkan angka kematian ibu telah menjadi prioritas utama dalam agenda pembangunan kesehatan. Namun, tantangan dalam menyediakan perawatan kesehatan yang berkualitas tetap kompleks, terutama di negara-negara dengan sumber daya terbatas. Buku Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania karya Adrienne E. Strong menawarkan perspektif etnografis dalam memahami keterkaitan antara struktur birokrasi, keterbatasan sumber daya, dan praktik perawatan kesehatan di Tanzania. Ulasan ini membahas konsep-konsep yang dikembangkan oleh Strong, seperti good enough care, documented care, dan fierce care, yang menyoroti dilema etis yang dihadapi tenaga kesehatan dalam memberikan layanan di bawah tekanan administratif dan kekurangan fasilitas. Kritik terhadap pendekatan etnografi dalam buku ini juga mencakup keterbatasannya dalam memberikan solusi sistemik yang lebih luas serta relevansinya terhadap konteks negara lain, seperti Indonesia. Dengan demikian, tulisan ini berupaya menghubungkan analisis Strong dengan tantangan global dalam kesehatan maternal serta pentingnya memahami interaksi antara kebijakan global dan praktik lokal dalam meningkatkan kualitas perawatan ibu dan bayi.
References
Brown, Hannah. 2010. Living with HIV/AIDS: An ethnography of care in Western Kenya. Student thesis: Phd The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Hetherington, Kevin. 1998. In place of geometry: the materiality of place. The Sociological Review 45 no, 1_suppl: 183–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1997.tb03461.x
Strong, Adrienne E. 2020. Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania. 1st ed., University of California Press, . JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1f884ws. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025
Recommended Citation
Oktavia, Luluk, and Megawati Sukarno. 2025. DOCUMENTING DEATH: MATERNAL MORTALITY AND THE ETHICS OF CARE IN TANZANIA (ADRIENNE E. STRONG 2020). Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya 15, no. 3 (December). 10.17510/paradigma.v15i3.1726.
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Anthropology Commons, Arts and Humanities Commons, Clinical and Medical Social Work Commons, Critical Care Commons, Critical Care Nursing Commons, Health and Medical Administration Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Maternal, Child Health and Neonatal Nursing Commons
