MIDWIFE: CHANGING ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF A FOLK PRACTITIONER

Midwifery, considerably reduced in scope, is still practiced among Negroes in a Southeastern Ru region. Seen as a soc institution in partial disintegration, marginal to modern med practices, & subject to powerful official opposition, it permits the study of institutional adaptation to stress. The old midwife practiced with the sponsorship & personal support of the white physician. She was `called' to her occup & trained through a familial apprenticeship. The new midwife is trained & officially appointed by a Health Center. The old midwife has continued to retain by far the largest share of practice by reliance upon her power & prestige in the Negro community, but Ur influences are affecting her clientele, & she is faced with competitors rather than successors. AA.