Pregnant Bodies, Physical Activity and Health Literacy

In this article, we study health literacy as entangled and situated processes of
authorisation of pregnant women to become competent caretakers of their
own physical activity and health based on the development of the practice of
‘learning to take notice’. Based on our ethnographic fieldwork in a randomised
controlled trial on physical activity during pregnancy called FitMum, we develop
a processual conceptualisation of health authorisation as multidirectional flows
between participants, staff and technologies. Using the concepts of attunement
and authorisation from Latour and Despret, we suggest that health literacy is
not just something that can be acquired once and for all, but is processual and
must be maintained, nurtured and developed through continuous negotiations,
adjustments and adaptations to the constantly changing conditions of the health
subject.