Emancipation in the name of medical pluralism : perinatal health practices of women of Chinese origin in Paris

This article analyzes two perinatal health practices - feeding practices and post-partum rest - of mothers of Chinese origin in Paris, who navigate between different registers of care and medical and paramedical standards. Through a qualitative study carried out between 2016 and 2018 among some thirty women of Chinese origin, and in some cases also among their family circle (spouses and parents), the article highlights the logic underlying their perinatal health practices which are based on Chinese medicine in a migratory context. The empirical material shows that the use of medical pluralism in the French context, during the perinatal period, can be understood by these women as a way of emancipation, at least in a punctual and limited manner, on the one hand from the domination of Western clinical norms and institutional violence; and on the other hand, from power relations within the home and the extended family.