Megan Davies

BIO

PhD, M.A History, B.A History

A historian of health who teaches in York University's Health & Society Program, Megan J. Davies has researched and published extensively on topics including everyday health, midwifery and home birth, residential care, dementia therapy, and home support. In addition to publishing a monograph and many scholarly chapters and articles, she brings to this work considerable experience in knowledge mobilization from academic projects, including film, web-based educational materials, exhibits, and lay publications.  Her ongoing interest in the history of midwifery and home birth is linked to a scholarly and larger life commitment to social justice, social change and equity.  Like her other work, Megan's academic research on midwifery is engaged with questions of power and sees knowledge as something that is acquired in both formal and everyday forums.

In 2004 Megan conducted a series of filmed oral history interviews with midwives and birthing parents in British Columbia, which subsequently served as the basis for a book chapter and a journal article (also published in French in a collection about the history of women and health). Copies of the original interviews were deposited in the University of British Columbia's archives.