1st Edition

Assisted Reproduction Across Borders Feminist Perspectives on Normalizations, Disruptions and Transmissions

Edited By Merete Lie, Nina Lykke Copyright 2017
    334 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    334 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Today, it often seems as though Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) have reached a stage of normalization, at least in some countries and among certain social groups. Apparently some practices – for example in vitro fertilization (IVF) – have become standard worldwide. The contributors to Assisted Reproduction Across Borders argue against normalization as an uncontested overall trend.

    This volume reflects on the state of the art of ARTs. From feminist perspectives, the contributors focus on contemporary political debates triggered by ARTs. They examine the varying ways in which ARTs are interpreted and practised in different contexts, depending on religious, moral and political approaches. Assisted Reproduction Across Borders embeds feminist analysis of ARTs across a wide variety of countries and cultural contexts, discussing controversial practices such as surrogacy from the perspective of the global South as well as the global North as well as inequalities in terms of access to IVF.

    This volume will appeal to scholars and students of anthropology, ethnography, philosophy, political science, history, sociology, film studies, media studies, literature, art history, area studies, and interdisciplinary areas such as gender studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies.

    Part I: ARTs in a Neoliberal World of Transnational Reproflows

    1. Citizen, Subject, Property: Indian Surrogacy and the Global Fertility Market Kalindi Vora and Malathi Iyengar

    2. Fair Play in a Dirty Field? The Ethical Work of Commissioning Surrogacy in India Kristin Engh Førde

    3.  "Families Like We’d Always Known"? Spanish Gay Fathers’ Normalization Narratives in Transnational Surrogacy Marcin Smietana

    4.  Destination Spain: Negotiating Nationality and Fertility when Traveling for Eggs Charlotte Kroløkke

    5. The South African Economy of Egg Donation: Looking at the BioEconomic Side of Normalization Verena Namberger

    Part II: Perplexed State Regulations, Legal Inconsistencies and Cultural Tricksters

    6.  Governing New Reproductive Technologies across Western Europe: The Gender Dimension Isabelle Engeli and Christine Rothmayr Allison

    7. Norwegian Biopolitics in the First Decade of the 2000s: Family Politics and Assisted Reproduction Understood through the Concept of the Trickster Kristin Spilker

    8.  Bringing it All Back Home: Cross-Border Procreative Practices. Examples from Norway Marit Melhuus

    9. Finland as a Late Regulator of Assisted Reproduction: A Permissive Policy under Debate Lise Eriksson

    Part III: Religious Fundamentalism, Humanist Values, and State Dilemmas in an Era of Technological Monsters

    10. Reframing Conception, Reproducing Society: Italian Paradoxes Manuela Perrotta

    11. The Veto of Moral Politics: The Catholic Church and ARTs in Ireland Orla McDonnell

    12. Desiring Bodies: Problematizing the Matter of ARTs in Poland Edyta Just

    13. Germany goes PGD: The Appeal to Women’s and Human Rights Discourse in the Paradigmatic Amendment to the German Embryo Protection Act Bettina Bock von Wülfingen

    14. Matters of Donation and Preserved Relations: Co-Construction of Egg Donation and Family Structures in Iran Tara Mehrabi

    Part IV: ARTs as Entangled in Demographic Agendas and Biopolitics

    15. Babies from Behind Bars: Stratified Assisted Reproduction in Palestine/Israel Sigrid Vertommen

    16.  From Precarity to Self-Governance: Performing Motherhood through IVF Treatment in Ukraine Polina Vlasenko

    17.  Russian Legislative Practices and Debates on the Restriction of Wide Access to ARTs Maria Kirpichenko

    Part V: "New Normals" and their Discontents 

    18.  Lesbian Kinship and ARTs in American Popular Culture: The L Word and The Kids Are All Right Julianne Pidduck

    19.  Naturalization and Un-Naturalization: ARTs, Childlessness and Choice Malin Noem Ravn

    20. Sperm Stories: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Sperm Donation and Sperm Banking in Denmark Stine Willum Adrian

    21. Cellular Origins: A Visual Analysis of Time-Lapse Embryo Imaging Lucy van de Wiel

    Biography

    Merete Lie is Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture and leader of the Centre for Gender Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.

    Nina Lykke is Professor of Gender Studies at Linköping University, Sweden, co-director of GEXcel International Collegium for Advanced Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, and director of InterGender International Research School, Sweden.