About
Bringing an interdisciplinary social work and sociological lens to the study of Black maternal health, Danae Ross' work centers not only the physical, but the mental health of Black mothers and their infants in the sexual and reproductive discourses. She investigates how culture--particularly controlling images of Black womanhood, sexuality, and motherhood--influence Black maternal-infant lived experiences of as well as the health outcomes and decision-making relative to birth and breastfeeding. On the micro-level, she examines how the internationalization of dominant motherhood ideologies affect patient-provider interactions and Black maternal self-understandings, parenting decisions, and well-being. With respect for the macro-level effects, she focuses on the ways in which dominant motherhood ideologies and cultural representations are embedded into and thereby, reified by well-meaning perinatal health (care) and social welfare policy. Furthermore, she considers the impact of the intersections of these policies on the medical institutional culture and provider-patient interactions as well as on the lived experience of Black mothers and infants in the U.S. (relative to maternal breastfeeding stress, postpartum adjustment, and infant attachment).
