Bloody footprints : learning to be with woman

Process and content dictate the layout of this work. I have chosen purposefully to let the\nvoices of the Footprints Collective midwives speak first. Just as midwifery is about being\nwith woman, so research into midwifery needs to reflect a 'with woman' subject position.\nTo remain congruent with both midwifery and with feminist poststructuralist work,\ntherefore, the chapters 'Midwives speak...' and 'Midwives stay silent...' come before the\nchapter, 'Hearing voices'. 'Hearing voices' is not a chapter which is designed solely to\ndescribe the research methodology. Its intent is to underpin the work of the thesis and\ntherefore the chapter includes a discussion of the relatedness between the methodology,\nmidwifery and education in these changing times.\nOf course, in this post-structural world of ours, the reader is free to choose the order in\nwhich she or he reads the chapters. (If the reader desires a more recognisable structure it is\nprobably best to begin with 'Hearing voices'!).\nThe first three chapters are followed by the chapter called 'Saying is believing'. I have\nspecifically chosen to write what would usually be called the conclusion as a discussion of\ncurriculum areas because it illustrates what I believe the Footprints Collective work can\ncontribute to teaching and learning to be with woman. In 'Saying is believing' I suggest\nteaching and learning areas which evolved from the insights of the Footprints Collective, to\nhelp learners construct themselves as midwives: strong, connected, political beings with\nvoice. This chapter is meant to be an example of content and process for midwifery\nteaching and learning which reflects our midwifery reality - just one path of many along\nwhich we could walk.\nBirth and midwifery are both formed and formless. Both deal with the known and the\nunknown. Women's bloody footprints remind us that we need the tools by which we learn\nour practical and spiritual craft to be both structured and at the same time, beyond\nstructure.\nThis work grapples with a complex issue, the construction of midwifery knowledge. The\nwork is limited in the time and space afforded a Degree of Masters in Education thesis.\nThere are many issues raised but not dealt with, or raised and discussed only briefly. Many\nother topics, which the Collective midwives wrote about or discussed, do not appear at all.\nIn my taking up of the author position for this work I chose which issues to discuss in detail\nand which to leave for another time and place.