Introduction
"If you really want to know either of us, do not put us in a laboratory or hand us a survey or even interview us separately alone in our homes. Watch me (MF) with women friends, my son, his father, my niece, or my mother, and you will see what feels most authentic to me. These very moments, which construct who I am when I am most me, remain remote from psychological studies of individuals or even groups."
Rethinking Mental Health and Disorder: Feminist Perspectives, Laura Brown
For the final project for LACS 20, the oral history gathering I hope to do, and my individual interests in an aspect of Nicaraguan culture, I decided to research the structural barriers women experience in their pursuit (or lack thereof) of healthcare. As I dove deeper into the research, I began to develop a particular focus on maternal mental health, particularly the concept of postpartum depression.
The social determinants of health refer to health inequities that arise from the societal conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These have been described as the "causes of causes" of ill health. - Introduction, p. xx, A Guide For Global Health Workers: Building Partnerships in the Americas
There is very little research that I could find to understand Nicaraguan maternal mental health, and even less on postpartum depression. As the passage above from Laura Brown's compelling book, Rethinking Mental Health and Disorder: Feminist Perspectives, states so passionately, the best way to understand how mothers are feeling will be to ask and listen.