Guardianas: Dispatches from the Association of Midwives Rosa Andrade / Despachos de la Asociaci?n de Parteras Rosa Andrade [Paperback]

A collection of testimonies from midwives in El Salvador who delivered babies during the twelve-year-long civil war and today fight to protect their ancestral role to care for the reproductive health of their communities.

This bilingual edition includes thirty color photographs and five black-and-white illustrations.

“An inspiring testament to the indispensable role of midwives in safeguarding life, culture, and community even against formidable odds.” —Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body

“In this book we get to listen to elders, warriors, guides whose love, care and support for the autonomy of people giving birth models the world we deserve.” —Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

“A book we need to read, as across the world we face a relentless war against the main conditions of our reproduction.” —Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch and Wages Against Housework

During the twelve-year-long Salvadoran civil war, mothers and guerrilla fighters attended births out of necessity. While fleeing airstrikes, in caves and beneath mango trees, with no electricity or running water, these women became parteras—community midwives—and began to care for pregnant people in rural areas and refugee camps who could not access medical care. In 1994, in the wake of the armed struggle, the Association of Midwives Rosa Andrade (APRA) was born.

Compiled from oral histories gathered in 2019 by Salvadoran American birth worker Noemí Delgado, this bilingual anthology weaves togethl“P