Description
Berghahn Books Conceiving Kinship Assisted Conception Procreation and Family in Southern Europe 2008 Edition by Monica M.E. Bonaccorso
Conceiving Kinship is an in-depth journey, the first of its kind, into how heterosexual, lesbian and gay couples using programmes of gamete donation conceptualize and make Italian kinship. It explores the provision of treatment in clinical and non-clinical settings at a time when Italy was considered the 'Wild-West' of assisted conception. This compelling study provides a new perspective on hotly debated issues in kinship studies and the modern medical technologies; it offers fresh insights into longstanding questions of cultural continuities and discontinuities in European kinship. Table of contents :- BoxesForewordAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Locating Conceiving Kinship: New Subjects, New BoundariesIntroductionAn Overview of Anthropological Enquiry into Assisted ConceptionAn Overview of Italian AnthropologyChapter 2. Research in Place: Shifting Fields of EnquiryIntroductionMultiple Investigations, Sites, InformantsMain InvestigationComparative InvestigationCollateral InvestigationChapter 3. Heterosexual Couples: Life Plans, Irreversible Infertility and the Choice of a Programme of Gamete DonationA Case: Anna and Artificial Insemination by DonorIntroductionPlanning Our Life, Planning Our ChildrenDiscovering Irreversible InfertilityChoosing a Programme of Gamete DonationNormalizing Gamete DonationDo It Quickly (and It Lasts Forever)Chapter 4. Heterosexual Couples: Gamete Donation, Donors and Biogenetic Make-upA Case: Matilde and Egg DonationIntroductionInfertile Couples, Biological Inheritance and Biogenetic Make-upCouples' Perception of Donors and DonationGood Intentions, Gifts and Donors' DisplacementChapter 5. Heterosexual Couples and Clinicians: Strategies in Private Clinics of Assisted ConceptionExtract from Field Notes: at Lunch with CliniciansIntroductionThe Provision of Services in Private Clinics of Assisted ConceptionLife around Clinics and Clinicians: Trust, Faith and DependencyThe Hyper-medicalized Infertile CoupleManaging Recurrent Failure in the ClinicGetting to Understand Programmes of Gamete DonationThe Work of Kinship in the ClinicChapter 6. Lesbian and Gay Couples Making Families by DonationA Case: a Lesbian Couple Planning a Family by DonationIntroductionLesbian and Gay Couples: Planning a Life TogetherPlanning FamiliesRethinking Motherhood and FatherhoodThe Lesbian and Gay Way: The Procreative ProjectThe Lesbian and Gay Way: Practices of InclusionThe Lesbian and Gay Way: Practices of RelatednessChapter 7. The Traffic in Kinship: Southern Europe and Euro-AmericaIntroductionEthnographic Reflections: Some Key NotionsProgrammes of Gamete Donation: Challenging (in Principle) the 'Model' Italian versus Euro-American Kinship: Generalizing the 'Model'A Concluding Note: Conceiving KinshipAppendix I: Assisted Conception in Italy: A Legislative and Political Controversy, 1996-99Towards a Unified Text: Political Controversies over LegislationThe Death of the Unified Text: The Rise of a New ControversyThe Political Project Behind Assisted Conception, 1996-99Appendix II: Profile of Infertile Heterosexual CouplesAppendix IIa: Profile of Lesbian and Gay CouplesBibliographyIndex