Reproductive Disruptions — Gender, Technology, and Biopolitics in the New Millennium

While there has been increasing focus globally on women's health, the Western biomedical establishment still largely determines the agenda. To redress this situation, a summary of 157 ethnographies on defining women's health in Western and non-Western countries informs the introduction by medical anthropologist Inhorn (U. of Michigan) to this collection of eight contributed chapters. Their messages include: the health-demoting effects of the medicalization of reproduction, patriarchal state politics, intersecting forms of oppression (e.g., gender X race), and the importance of understanding women's local and subjective moral worlds. International contributors discuss woman-centered health care in relation to infertility, pregnancy loss, prenatal genetic services, adoption, post-reproductive life, and immigration policy. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Marcia C. Inhorn is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. A specialist on infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in the Muslim Middle East, she is the author or editor of four books on the subject. Her publications include Quest for Conception: Gender, Infertility, and Egyptian Medical Traditions (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, winner of Eileen Basker Prize for outstanding research in gender and health), Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics of Gender and Family Life in Egypt (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996) and Local Babies, Global Science: Gender, Religion, and In Vitro Fertilization in Egypt (Routledge Press, 2003).