Robbie E. Davis-Floyd, Ph.D.

Short Bio

Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, a Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin, is an internationally known cultural anthropologist specializing in medical, ritual, and gender studies and the anthropology of reproduction. She is author of numerous articles and of Birth as an American Rite of Passage (1992); coauthor of From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey, and The Power of Ritual (forthcoming), and coeditor of eight collections, including Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (1997); Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots (1998); Reconceiving Midwifery: The New Canadian Model of Care (2002); and Midwives in Mexico: Continuity, Controversy, and Change (2002). Funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, she has recently completed a major research project on the development of direct-entry midwifery in the U.S., the results of which will appear in Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change. Her resarch on midwives in Mexico and on global trends and transformations in midwifery is ongoing.