A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology

by Van Hollen, Cecilia Coale; Appleton, Nayantara Sheoran

• ISBN13: 9781119845348
• ISBN10: 1119845343
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781119845355
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2023-10-10
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Provides fresh perspectives on the past, present and future-facing contributions of the anthropology of reproduction.

A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the anthropological study of reproductive practices, technologies, and interventions in a global context. Exploring the medical and technological management of human reproduction through a sociocultural lens, this groundbreaking volume reviews past and current research, discusses contemporary debates and recent theoretical developments, introduces key themes and trends, examines ongoing issues of equity, inclusivity, and reproductive justice around the world, and more.

The Companion brings together essays by multidisciplinary scholars in fields including sociocultural anthropology, medical anthropology, reproductive health, global public health, Science and Technology Studies (STS), gender and sexuality studies, critical race studies, and environmental studies, to list but a few. Five thematically organized sections address reproductive practitioners and paradigms, global reproductive health and interventions, reproductive justice, the life-course approach to the study of reproductive health, and the future of reproductive technology and medicine.

Using clear, jargon-free language, the authors investigate pregnancy and childbirth; fertility treatments; birth control, contraception and abortion; COVID-19 and reproduction; reproductive cancers; epigenetics; social discrimination; gender and sexualities and reproduction for LGBTQIA+ communities; race and reproduction; migration and reproduction; reproduction and war; reproductive health financing; reproduction and disabilities, reproduction and the environment; and other important contemporary topics. A cutting-edge guide to the modern study of reproduction, this groundbreaking volume:

• Provides an overview of the links between anthropological study and progressive work in medicine, healthcare, and technology
• Addresses both the challenges and opportunities facing researchers in the field
• Identifies gaps in current scholarship and offers recommendations for future research topics and methodologies
• Highlights the importance of ethnographic research combined with critical engagements with other disciplines for the anthropology of reproduction
• Explores the impact of socioeconomic conditions, environmental challenges, public policy, and legislation on reproductive health outcomes
• Traces the history of the field and demonstrates how anthropologists have engaged with issues of reproductive justice

Part of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology series, A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology is an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and scholars in medical anthropology, science technology and society, cultural anthropology, ethnology, and gender studies, as well as medical practitioners, policymakers, and activists involved in global and public health and reproductive justice.

Author Biography

Cecilia Coale Van Hollen is Teaching Professor in the Asian Studies Program and Science, Technology and International Affairs in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, USA. She is the author of Birth on the Threshold: Childbirth and Modernity in South India; Birth in the Age of AIDS: Women, Reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India, and Cancer and the Kali Yuga: Gender, Inequality and Health in South India. Her work has been published in journals such as Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Medical Anthropology, and Reproductive Health Matters.

Nayantara Sheoran Appleton is Senior Lecturer at the School for Science in Society, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is the co-editor of Methods, Moments, and Ethnographic Spaces in Asia and working on her first monograph titled Demographic Desires, Mediated Medicine, and Emergency Contraception in India. She has published in Economic and Political Weekly, Medical Anthropology, Anthropology and Medicine, American Anthropologist, Journal of Public Health, amongst others.