Towards Holistic Medical Humanities

This article explores Medical Humanities, a relatively new field in literary theory which stresses the need to include the humanities into medical studies. Early twentieth-century scientific development gave rise to a conflict in medicine between a reductionist approach which explains human illnesses through biological concepts and a holistic approach which explains them through social and cultural factors. The article analyzes Ami McKay’s The Birth House, a novel about childbirthing, as an example that reflects the shift from reductionist modern obstetrics to holistic traditional midwifery, showing how midwives use childbirthing to advocate holism for female agency and body control.