Description
Book SynopsisSubstantial Relations examines global reproductive medicine in India, focusing on in vitro fertilization. Since the 1970s, India has played a central but shifting role in shaping global reproductive medicinefrom a provider of raw material, to a producer of knowledge and technology, to a creator of a thriving medical market that attracts patients from all over the world. Relying on archival material and oral history, Substantial Relations traces the path of this transnational historical trajectory. This book also examines the contemporary making of IVF in Delhi. Drawing on ethnographic research in homes, hospitals, and laboratories, Sandra Bärnreuther provides deep insights into the intricacies of clinical life and everyday experience by depicting IVF users'' quest for offspring and their fears of establishing unwanted ties, as well as the minute engagements of clinicians and laboratory staff with reproductive substances.
Thinking through substancesm
Trade Review
Bärnreuther (Univ. of Lucerne, Switzerland) skillfully uses anthropological fieldwork (conducted from 2010 to 2017) and archival research to describe and analyze this growing IVF medical system.
* Choice *
The book is a recommended read for all scholars working in the area of infertility/fertility and kinship studies.
* Medical Anthropology Quarterly *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. From Urine to Ampoule: The Commodity Chain of a Hormone
2. From Dismissal to Recognition: A Contested Claim
3. From Hobby to Industry: How IVF Diversified
4. The Clinic and Beyond: Reproductive Temporalities
5. When Cells Circulate: Unwanted Ties
6. Inside the Laboratory: Embryo Ethics
Epilogue
