Relocating Reproduction
Relocating Reproduction
This chapter considers the experiences of the thousands of Native women of childbearing age who migrated from reservations to cities in the decades following World War II. The federal government’s relocation program promoted the urban migration of Native individuals and families and provided basic assistance to facilitate the process. The chapter argues that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’s desired outcome of relocating women alongside men, as well as women’s own agency in pursuing relocation, forced the BIA to make adjustments to relocation policy to accommodate women’s reproductive needs. In cities, Native women navigated the bureaucracy of health insurance but often found that long-term coverage was out of reach. Native women relied on their own ingenuity and the support of familial and social networks both on and off reservations in their attempt to obtain adequate prenatal, obstetric, and postnatal care, as well as in negotiating urban motherhood.
Keywords: Urban, Relocation, Childbearing, Motherhood, Health insurance
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