Pregnancy in Practice - Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary Us

Babies are not simply born-they are made through cultural and social practices. Based on rich empirical work, this book examines the everyday experiences that mark pregnancy in the US today, such as reading pregnancy advice books, showing ultrasound "baby pictures" to friends and co-workers, and decorating the nursery in anticipation of the new arrival. These ordinary practices of pregnancy, the author argues, are significant and revealing creative activities that produce babies. They are the activities through which babies are made important and meaningful in the lives of the women and men awaiting the child's birth. This book brings into focus a topic that has been overlooked in the scholarship on reproduction and will be of interest to professionals and expectant parents alike.

List of contents

Preface

List of Figures

Chapter 1. Introduction: Ordinary Pregnancy

Chapter 2. Pregnancy as a Literacy Event

Chapter 3. Protoconversations of the Heart: Belly Talk

Chapter 4. Seeing Like a Family, Looking Like a Baby: Fetal Ultrasound Imaging

Chapter 5. "This Body Is No Longer My Own"

Chapter 6. Making Rooms for Babies: Houses and Nurseries

Chapter 7. Consumption and Communitas: Baby Showers

Postpartum

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Sallie Han is Associate Professor of Anthropology at SUNY College at Oneonta.

Product details

• Authors: Sallie Han, Han Sallie
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.07.2013
• EAN: 9780857459879
• ISBN: 978-0-85745-987-9
• No. of pages: 206
• Series: Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Anthropology, SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, United States of America, USA, Social and cultural anthropology, Human biology, Sociology: family and relationships, Medical Anthropology, Sociology: Birth