Hauntology of Pain
Spectral Forces in Indian Labour Rooms
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6453576 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sruthy Gopal (University of Hyderabad, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 184-200 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Somatechnics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2044-0138 • E-ISSN: 2044-0146 |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3366/soma.2025.0459 |
| OpenAlex | W4411956885 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
This article revisits the labour room as a haunted site, where layered histories of casteist and patriarchal violence persist within obstetric practices. Adopting the technique of displaced auto-ethnography, the article presents a series of experiences, the unfolding of which cast light upon the seemingly illogical – spectral – events in the labour room. The affective retelling of stories, which are marked as deviations from the standard practice in the linear narratives of medical progress and care, reveal a pattern of violence that transcends space and time. Positioning the narratives within the wider frameworks of caste and gendered oppression, the article explores how labour pain becomes both inexpressible and imperceptible, ultimately rendering the labouring body invisible – even in its vulnerable visibility. The article argues that the inhuman customs of Brahmanical patriarchy occupy the shadows and silences of modern medicine, where its presence is felt as a force capable of formulating an institutionalised oppression assemblage composed of individuals, objects, and practices
The Cultural Politics of Emotion
Defining disrespect and abuse of women in childbirth
The Birth of the Clinic
Ghostly Matters
Come, so that I may Chase you Away!’ On Ghost Hunts and Posthuman Ethics
All things spectral
Hauntological dimensions of heart transplantation
Beyond measurement
Specters of Marx
Analytic Autoethnography
| Highly cited | No |
|---|