A Transnational Feminist View of Surrogacy Biomarkets in India

A Transnational Feminist View of Surrogacy Biomarkets in India
Author: Sheela Saravanan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2018-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811068690

This book takes a reproductive justice approach to argue that surrogacy as practised in the contemporary neoliberal biomarkets crosses the humanitarian thresholds of feminism. Drawing on her ethnographic work with surrogate mothers, intended parents and medical practitioners in India, the author shows the dark connections between poverty, gender, human rights violations and indignity in the surrogacy market. In a developing country like India, bio-technologies therefore create reproductive objects of certain female bodies while promoting an image of reproductive liberation for others. India is a classic example for how far these biomarkets can exploit vulnerabilities for individual requirements in the garb of reproductive liberty. This critical book refers to a range of liberal, radical and postcolonial feminist frameworks on surrogacy, and questions the individual reproductive rights perspective as an approach to examine global surrogacy. It introduces ‘humanitarian feminism’ as an alternative concept to bridge feminist factions divided on contextual and ideological grounds. It hopes to build a global feminist solidarity drawing on a ‘reproductive justice’ approach by recognizing the histories of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, age and immigration oppression in all communities. This work is of interest to researchers and students of medical sociology and anthropology, gender studies, bioethics, and development studies.

Wombs in Labor

Wombs in Labor
Author: Amrita Pande
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2014-09-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231538189

Surrogacy is India's new form of outsourcing, as couples from all over the world hire Indian women to bear their children for a fraction of the cost of surrogacy elsewhere with little to no government oversight or regulation. In the first detailed ethnography of India's surrogacy industry, Amrita Pande visits clinics and hostels and speaks with surrogates and their families, clients, doctors, brokers, and hostel matrons in order to shed light on this burgeoning business and the experiences of the laborers within it. From recruitment to training to delivery, Pande's research focuses on how reproduction meets production in surrogacy and how this reflects characteristics of India's larger labor system. Pande's interviews prove surrogates are more than victims of disciplinary power, and she examines the strategies they deploy to retain control over their bodies and reproductive futures. While some women are coerced into the business by their families, others negotiate with clients and their clinics to gain access to technologies and networks otherwise closed to them. As surrogates, the women Pande meets get to know and make the most of advanced medical discoveries. They traverse borders and straddle relationships that test the boundaries of race, class, religion, and nationality. Those who focus on the inherent inequalities of India's surrogacy industry believe the practice should be either banned or strictly regulated. Pande instead advocates for a better understanding of this complex labor market, envisioning an international model of fair-trade surrogacy founded on openness and transparency in all business, medical, and emotional exchanges.

The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction

The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction
Author: Sallie Han
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2021-11-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 100045598X

The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction is a comprehensive overview of the topics, approaches, and trajectories in the anthropological study of human reproduction. The book brings together work from across the discipline of anthropology, with contributions by established and emerging scholars in archaeological, biological, linguistic, and sociocultural anthropology. Across these areas of research, consideration is given to the contexts, conditions, and contingencies that mark and shape the experiences of reproduction as always gendered, classed, and racialized. Over 39 chapters, a diverse range of international scholars cover topics including: Reproductive governance, stratification, justice, and freedom. Fertility and infertility. Technologies and imaginations. Queering reproduction. Pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive loss. Postpartum and infant care. Care, kinship, and alloparenting. This is a valuable reference for scholars and upper-level students in anthropology and related disciplines associated with reproduction, including sociology, gender studies, science and technology studies, human development and family studies, global health, public health, medicine, medical humanities, and midwifery and nursing.

Gendered Inequalities in Paid and Unpaid Work of Women in India

Gendered Inequalities in Paid and Unpaid Work of Women in India
Author: Vibhuti Patel
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2022-03-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811699747

This book explores Indian women's economic contribution through paid and unpaid work in different sectors of the economy and society in extremely diverse life situations and geographical locations. It highlights gender implications of interlinkages between local, national, regional and global dimensions of women's paid and unpaid work in India. It encompasses a vast canvas of life worlds of working women in the metropolitan, urban, peri-urban, rural, tribal areas in manufacturing, agricultural, fisheries, sericulture, plantation and service sectors of the Indian economy. It provides nuanced insights into intersectional marginalities of caste, class, ethnicity, religion and gender. The chapters are based on primary data collection and triangulation of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. It presents the multiple marginalities of Indian women in the globalized political economy of the 21st century. It not only focuses on emerging issues but also suggests evidence-based policy imperatives. This book is an essential read for researchers, scholars, policymakers, practitioners and students of women/gender studies.

The Political Economy of Work in the Global South

The Political Economy of Work in the Global South
Author: Anita Hammer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2020-03-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1350305103

Part of the Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment series, this edited collection brings together contributions from leading international scholars to initiate an important dialogue between labour process analysis and scholarship on work in the Global South. This book characterises the forms of work and labour process that characterise globalising capitalism today and addresses core analytical concerns within Labour Process Theory and research on work in the South. It explores how a wide range of production relations in the Global South, ranging from formal to informal employment and self-employment, are embedded in wider social relations of gender, caste, religion and ethnicity, and are related to wider patterns of commodification and resistance. Drawing on cutting-edge research, the book's chapters consider a diverse range of working situations, covering migrant workers in the Middle East, commercial surrogacy work in India and cooperative garment workers in Argentina. In offering a novel reading of the political economy of work in the Global South and shedding light on lesser-considered fields of work and worker organization, this volume will provide new insights for making sense of the changing world of work for students, scholars, labour activists and practitioners alike.

The Palgrave Handbook of Social Fieldwork

The Palgrave Handbook of Social Fieldwork
Author: Nasir Uddin
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2023-04-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3031136152

This handbook offers epistemologically and ontologically important personal accounts of academic and professional researchers having long-term intensive, comprehensive and ethnographic fieldwork in various social settings and versatile regional contexts across the globe. The accounts are cross-disciplinary including anthropology, sociology, geography, political sciences, gender studies, forestry and environmental studies, economics, and international relations. They are also trans-regional, covering the globe including South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. The book offers a comprehensive portrait of multifaceted challenges that social researchers experience while doing fieldwork in various social settings. The accounts provide both challenges of doing fieldwork in the 21st century and the ways how to address/redress them in the field by complying with the codes of ethics, and the politics of fieldwork. Readers will benefit from the handbook by understanding methodological issues from both disciplinary relevance and regional specificity across time and spaces.

International Conference on Motherhood Melodies: A Global Harmony of Literary Resonance

International Conference on Motherhood Melodies: A Global Harmony of Literary Resonance
Author: Anjana R B
Publisher: EduPedia Publications Pvt Ltd
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2024-09-25
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9392181728

The International Conference on Motherhood Melodies brought together scholars, writers, and practitioners from diverse fields to explore the intricate connections between motherhood and literature. Focusing on the theme “A Global Harmony of Literary Resonance,” this conference aimed to illuminate how literary expressions across cultures reflect and shape maternal experiences, emotions, and narratives. Panels and Sessions The conference included a variety of panels and breakout sessions that engaged participants in critical discussions and interactive workshops. Notable topics included: The Role of Memory in Maternal Narratives: Examining how personal and collective memories shape the portrayal of motherhood in literature. Motherhood and Identity: Investigating the intersection of maternal identities with cultural, racial, and socio-economic factors in literary works. The Aesthetic of Care: Exploring how literature represents caregiving as a form of art and emotional labor. Highlights of the Conference Interactive Workshops: Attendees participated in workshops that focused on creative writing, storytelling, and the use of narrative techniques to express maternal experiences. Poster Presentations: Emerging scholars showcased their research through poster presentations, allowing for rich dialogue and networking opportunities. Cultural Performances: The conference featured performances that celebrated maternal themes through poetry, music, and dance, reinforcing the idea of motherhood as a universal melody.

Being and Value in Technology

Being and Value in Technology
Author: Enrico Terrone
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2022-01-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030887936

Despite numerous publications on the philosophy of technology, little attention has been paid to the relationship between being and value in technology, two aspects which are usually treated separately. This volume addresses this issue by drawing connections between the ontology of technology on the one hand and technology’s ethical and aesthetic significance on the other. The book first considers what technology is and what kind of entities it produces. Then it examines the moral implications of technology. Finally, it explores the connections between technology and the arts.

Infertility in a Crowded Country

Infertility in a Crowded Country
Author: Holly Donahue Singh
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2022-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0253063892

In Lucknow, the capital of India's most populous state, the stigmas and colonial legacies surrounding sexual propriety and population growth affect how Muslim women, often in poverty, cope with infertility. In Infertility in a Crowded Country, Holly Donahue Singh draws on interviews, observation, and autoethnographic perspectives in local communities and Lucknow's infertility clinics to examine access to technology and treatments and to explore how pop culture shapes the reproductive paths of women and their supporters through clinical spaces, health camps, religious sites, and adoption agencies. Donahue Singh finds that women are willing to transgress social and religious boundaries to seek healing. By focusing on interpersonal connections, Infertility in a Crowded Country provides a fascinating starting point for discussions of family, kinship, and gender; the global politics of reproduction and reproductive technologies; and ideologies and social practices around creating families.