Marginalized Reproduction

Description:

Worldwide, over 80 million people are involuntarily childless, a devastating experience for many with significant consequences for the social and psychological well-being of women in particular. This groundbreaking volume is the first to highlight the ways in which diverse ethnic, cultural and religious identities affect understanding of technological solutions for infertility and associated treatment experiences.

The collection begins with a consideration of some of the key methodological challenges for social research on ethnicity and infertility. The book introduces and examines concepts of infertility such as the bio-medical definition and discusses the companion concept of ethnicity, analyzing the shortcomings of simple assessments of ethnicity common in the health literature. It also discusses the relationship between the ethnic identity of both researcher and the researched and outlines some of the major issues, which can arise in engaging minority ethnic populations in research studies on sensitive topics.

Drawing on original research, the book goes on to explore infertility and reproductive technologies in relation to ethnicity in a selection in of “Western” societies and look at the interfaces between the constitutional “right to life of the unborn” and new reproductive technologies in Ireland.

Reviews/Endorsements:

“This important and highly illuminating book fills a large gap in the literature on infertility and reproductive technologies and should be read by everyone with a connection to the field.”
-- Professor Susan Golombok, Director of Centre for Family Research

“This impressive multi-disciplinary collection makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the relationship between infertility, ethnicity and culture and how ethnicity and culture shape the experience of infertility in the West. The editors and chapter authors draw attention to important theoretical and methodological issues and to health and policy concerns.”
-- Gayle Letherby, Professor of Sociology

”The editors have done an excellent job of compiling in one place a group of informative and interesting chapters which draw our attention to a new perspective from which to view both the experience of infertility and the reality of industrialised societies.”
-- From the foreword by Professor Arthur L. Greil

Table of Contents:

List of Contributors; Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of Acronyms and Abbreviations; Introduction: Ethnicity, Infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies; PART ONE: RESEARCHING INFERTILITY, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE 1) Dominant Narratives and Excluded Voices: Research on Ethnic Differences in Access to Assisted Conception in More Developed Societies—Lorraine Culley; 2) Infertility and Culture: Explanations, Implications and Dilemmas-- Frank van Balen; 3) Making Sense of Ethnic Diversity, Difference and Disadvantage within the Context of Multicultural Societies-- Karl Atkin; 4) Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Research: Necessity, Opportunity and Adverse Effects—Mark Johnson and Theda Borde; 5) What Difference Does Our Difference Make in Researching Infertility?—Yasmin Gunaratnam; PART TWO: EXPLORING INFERTILITY, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE IN NATIONAL CONTEXTS 6) Commonalities, Differences and Possibilities: Culture and Infertility in British South Asian Communities—Lorraine Culley and Nicky Hudson; 7) 'Anything to Become a Mother': Migrant Turkish Women's Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in London-- Zeynep Gürtin-Broadbent; 8) Infertile Turkish and Moroccan Minority Groups in the Netherlands: Patients' Views on Problems within Infertility Care—Floor van Rooij and Dineke Korfker; 9) Treating the Afflicted Body: Perceptions of Infertility and Ethnomedicine among Fertile Hmong Women in Australia-- Pranee Liamputtong; 10) Experiences from a Constitutional State: Ireland's Problematic Embryo-- Noëlle Cotter; 11) Marginalized, Invisible, and Unwanted: American Minority Struggles with Infertility and Assisted Conception—Marcia C. Inhorn, Rosario Ceballo and Robert Nachtigall; Glossary; Index.