ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores traditional rural Jamaican ethnophysiological notions about miscarriage in depth and describe in detail the ethnomedical knowledge and practices that pertain to it. It demonstrates the need to guard against the automatic imposition of biomedical definitions on the cross-culturally divergent reproductive experiences of women. In addition to highlighting the social tension between two women, false belly expresses larger tensions created by role expectations inconsistent with socioeconomic reality. In traditional rural Jamaica, local knowledge about false belly is used to make sense of the emotionally and often physically painful occurrence of miscarriage or the birth of a monstrously malformed baby. In blaming ghosts for pregnancies, men can express resentments about the expectation that they will support their progeny, and women can express resentments over many men's irresponsibility and their coercive and promiscuous sexuality. Blaming other women for setting the hexes that lead to witchcraft babies can provide a vent for resentments about female competition over men.
