Reproductive Governance and Bodily Materiality: Flesh, Technologies, and Knowledge

Reproductive Governance and Bodily Materiality explores the growing centrality and power of the medical professional and lay practices within the field of human reproduction as they entangle with political economic processes, providing examples from multiple countries.

Throughout the collection the authors address the issues of abortion, sterilization, ‘natural’ childbirth, breastfeeding, surrogacy, pregnancy loss, IVF, disability and parenting, whilst focusing both on the mechanisms through which reproductive behaviours are shaped and controlled, and on the socially and culturally constructed bodies’ materiality. The chapters analyse how reproductive governances are inherently attached to different social life aspects, such as gender, industry, and religion, residing within complex political domains and how these features are embodied through practices, care, rituals, and gestures. Rather than assuming corporeal materiality - the ‘flesh’ - as something stable and pre-given, this collection shows how different bodies are defined and shaped by local biologies, institutional practices and reproductive subjects inside and outside the Euro-American space.

This is essential reading for researchers of social, cultural and medical anthropology, sociology, and education.