Andrea Ford

I have long been fascinated by the cultural attitudes, anxieties, and desires around childbirth and parenting, and how they reflect debates about women’s place in the world that are centuries old and yet so very current. From the bloody glory of placentas to reproductive justice activism, there is no better window into our cultural problems. This is what drove me to become both an anthropologist and a doula. My research has taken me across California, the Chicago area, Ghana, and Scotland, where I have paid attention to the values that guide people's decisions and shape the environments they navigate. As a doula, I have been a rock for people while they labored and a member of birth worker communities that envision a different, better world.

I am now a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, where I continue to connect the details of bodily experiences to big questions like where our desire for a natural and authentic self comes from (and how it can undermine us) and why we think technology can solve our problems. I'm the co-editor of Hormonal Theory: A Rebellious Glossary, my work has appeared in So Hormonal and The Conversation, and I have been a guest on NPR and the BBC. I hold a doctorate from the University of Chicago, split my time between Scotland and California, and have three more books in progress. (Photo by Mallory James and Becca Journey)