New Directions in Nursing History

This collection of essays demonstrates the international scope of history of nursing scholarship today, encompassing studies from Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Europe. The authors examine the social and ethical issues which challenge nurses and midwives in different cultures; the transcultural issues which arise when careers move from one culture to another; and the process of professionalization for women from the 18th to the 20th century. The book highlights the important place nursing holds in the history of women's lives and work.
Each chapter contributes to our understanding of the importance of the political world in which nurses and midwives work.
*The international historiographic context within which the history of nursing must be set
*A cultural history of caring that emerges from the autobiographies of two Crimean War nurses
*The founding of the Norwegian Nurses Association by Bergljot Larsson (early 20th century)
*Conflict between nurses / midwives and medical men in 18th century Britain
*Sanba (midwives) and their clients in 20th century Japan
*Professional tensions between doctors and trained nurses in USA (1883-1935)
*Industrial action (a strike) in a mission hospital in South Africa (1949)
*Community nursing in Nazi Germany (1934-45)
*The experience of West Indian immigrant nurses in Canada and Britain (1950-70)
*The image of nurses through the eyes of British advertisers (1900-50)
*Pioneering work by midwives in New Zealand (20th century)
*Future areas of future international research
The volume is divided into four broad groups - the process of professionalism within nursing and the inter-professional tensions this creates; the social and ethical issues woven into the relationship between nurse/midwife and her patient / client; the transcultural dimensions which nurses create when they move from one culture to another; and finally recent developments in historiography. This will make fascinating and illuminating reading for students and researchers in nursing history, women's history and cultural history.