Negotiating Western Biomedicine and Ghanaian Cultural Practices during Pregnancy and Early Mothering

Western biomedical norms that inform pregnancy and early mothering often tend to contradict traditional Ghanaian norms. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with forty two early mothers, this study examines how Ghanaian mothers experience Western/global biomedical discourses and Ghanaian cultural norms associated with pregnancy and infant care and how they navigate conflicting social-cultural demands. The study shows that the demands from various social expectations that surround motherhood stem largely from biomedicine and socio-cultural beliefs. Personal philosophies, health beliefs, previous motherhood experiences and family pressures shaped the line of action that women selected when they found themselves at the intersection of multiple conflicting demands from both the Ghanaian culture and Western biomedicine.