Articulating Life's Memory - U.S. Medical Rhetoric about Abortion in the Nineteenth Century

Articulating Life's Memory offers a unique view of the history of abortion in early America. Nathan Stormer's work moves beyond general histories of medicine, science, and women; it provides specific insight into how the earliest medical writings on abortion served to create cultural memory. Nineteenth-century medical texts presented the act of abortion as a threat to the carefully circumscribed concepts of nation and race. Stormer analyzes a wealth of literature (and illustrations) from the period to explore the rhetorical techniques that led early Americans to presume that abortion put the integrity of all of American culture at risk. The book's first part provides a layered context for understanding medical practices within the rhetoric of memory formation and sets early antiabortion efforts within the wider framework of nineteenth-century biopolitics and racism. In Part II of the study, Stormer examines the substance of the memory constituted by these early medical practices. Making a major contribution to the study of rhetoric, Articulating Life's Memory will be invaluable to scholars researching reproductive rights and feminist and cultural histories of medicine.

List of contents

Part 1 Memory in Early Medical Abortion Opposition
Chapter 2 Medical Practice, Memory, and Antiabortion Rhetoric
Chapter 3 The Politics of Life and Memory
Chapter 4 Somatic Confessions
Part 5 Articulating a Memory of Life
Chapter 6 Organic Discourse
Chapter 7 Embodying a Matrix
Chapter 8 Prenatal Space
Part 9 Conclusion: In Living Memory

About the author

Nathan Stormer

Product details

• Authors: Nathan Stormer, Stormer Nathan
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 09.10.2002
• EAN: 9780739104309
• ISBN: 978-0-7391-0430-9
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 151 mm x 229 mm x 19 mm
• Weight: 376 g
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Abortion & Birth Control, United States of America, USA, Ethical issues: abortion & birth control, Gender studies: women, Gender studies: women and girls, Ethical issues: abortion and birth control