Complaints, Sensitivities and Responsibility: An Ethnographic Investigation into the Debates Concerning the Care of Bangladeshi Mothers in the East End

Abstract

Abstract The subject of this paper is a maternity services awareness day organised by a community centre in the East End of London. In what I interpret as the fractured political landscape of Tower Hamlets (in East London), this event formed a rare focus for the diverse groups of people I worked with in my fieldwork and provides a focal point through which to reflect upon issues of diaspora, culture and health care. This paper attempts to analyse the public voices of a diasporic community which were challenging mainstream health provision. In this paper, I suggest that the voicing of complaint both reified and contested the needs of Bangladeshi mothers specifically, yet did not alter the services provided. The ways in which “culture” is used or discarded as a critical platform on which to base claims about health care are discussed.