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Controlling reproduction - who has children, how many, and when - is important to states, communities, families, and individuals across the globe. However, the stakes are even higher than might at first be appreciated: control over reproduction is an incredibly powerful tool.
Contests over reproduction necessarily involve control over women and their bodies. Yet because reproduction is so intertwined with other social processes and institutions, controlling it also extends far into most corners of social, economic, and political life. Nancy Riley and Nilanjana Chatterjee explore how various social institutions beyond the individual - including state, religion, market, and family - are involved in the negotiation of reproductive power. They draw on examples from across the world, such as direct fertility policies in China and Romania, the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland and Brazil, racial discrimination and resistance in Mexico and the US, and how Japan and Norway use laws intended to encourage gender equality to indirectly shape reproduction.
This engaging book sheds new light on the operations of power and gender in society. It will appeal to students taking courses on reproduction in departments of sociology, anthropology, and gender studies.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Controlling Women, Controlling Reproduction
Chapter 2: Direct State Control of Reproduction
Chapter 3: Religion and the State
Chapter 4: State and Family: Cooperation and Contestation
Chapter 5: State Management of Reproduction in the Making and Unmaking of Communities
Chapter 6: Control of Reproduction in a Neoliberal World
Chapter 7: The Global Interconnections of Reproscapes
Chapter 8: Looking Ahead
About the author
Nancy E. Riley is Professor of Sociology and A. Myrick Freeman Professor of Social Sciences, Bowdoin College.
Nilanjana Chatterjee is a Cultural Anthropologist who teaches Humanities at the United Nations International School.
Summary
Controlling reproduction - who has children, how many, and when - is important to states, communities, families, and individuals across the globe. However, the stakes are even higher than might at first be appreciated: control over reproduction is an incredibly powerful tool.
Contests over reproduction necessarily involve control over women and their bodies. Yet because reproduction is so intertwined with other social processes and institutions, controlling it also extends far into most corners of social, economic, and political life. Nancy Riley and Nilanjana Chatterjee explore how various social institutions beyond the individual - including state, religion, market, and family - are involved in the negotiation of reproductive power. They draw on examples from across the world, such as direct fertility policies in China and Romania, the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland and Brazil, racial discrimination and resistance in Mexico and the US, and how Japan and Norway use laws intended to encourage gender equality to indirectly shape reproduction.
This engaging book sheds new light on the operations of power and gender in society. It will appeal to students taking courses on reproduction in departments of sociology, anthropology, and gender studies.
Report
"Struggles over reproduction have rarely been more intense for women, communities, and institutions. Riley and Chatterjee combine rigor and creativity to connect real-world control and resistance with feminist works of speculative fiction. Their tour de force provokes profound reflection on current social life and possible future worlds."
--Elizabeth Krause, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Riley and Chatterjee provide a comprehensive overview of reproductive battles playing out locally and internationally, highlighting that reproductive control is about controlling women, but also about defining economic, political, and social boundaries. They insightfully analyze the interplay between the most intimate individual concerns and institutional and government structures."
--Caitlin Killian, Drew University
"I found this a fascinating book[. ... A] highly significant contribution to the sexual and reproductive health literature, giving a deep and nuanced overview of the subject."
--Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
"Describing the policies of different countries, Riley and Chatterjee repeatedly justify their thesis: everything revolves around reproduction."
--iz3w
