Introduction: Childbirth in Dispute: An Introduction to the Contested Space

The idea for this international edited collection on childbirth and the tensions, contestations, and dilemmas surrounding the provision of good birth care emerged from years of shared engagement with research on birth care policies and practices. We, the editors, bring together disciplinary perspectives from sociology of health (NT) and midwifery and health sciences (KS) and have worked in close collaboration over many years. Our collaboration is sustained by an ongoing conversation between us – one that pauses and resumes, loops back and evolves – grounded in a mutual interest in the social, political, and embodied dimensions of birth, maternity care, and reproductive health.