Interpretations and Perspectives in Surrogate Motherhood

By Sierra Talavera- Brown In the film Made In India, it is Lisa’s ultimate dream to become a mother, she “needs it to become whole.” American couple Lisa and Brian Switzer have been attempting to become pregnant for 7 years through assistive reproductive technologies such as fertility drugs and IVF. Lisa has polycystic ovarian syndrome;… Continue reading Interpretations and Perspectives in Surrogate Motherhood

Unplanned Pregnancy!

Ethnography, Moral Experience and Unplanned Pregnancy At times, ethical conjectures about reproductive practices contradict people’s lived experiences in the real world. Through ethnographic work conducted at Naomi’s House, a homeless shelter in the southeastern United States, Seeman et al. came across an unexpected finding: despite living in conditions of poverty that are exacerbated by the… Continue reading Unplanned Pregnancy!

Inventing Bioethics: Buddhist and Hindu Point of View

According to Mauss, gifts are never “free.” The giver may benefit from repayment in the future and the receivers are obliged to reciprocate. Parry and Laidlaw tried to debunk the various meanings, connotations, and intentions embedded in gifts. Based on their works, Simpson’s article “Impossible Gifts: Bodies, Buddhism and Bioethics in Contemporary Sri Lanka” explores… Continue reading Inventing Bioethics: Buddhist and Hindu Point of View

Cultures of Testing: The Moral Dilemmas of Prenatal Testing

The exponential growth of technology offers parents additional information about a pregnancy, and more significantly, provides them the ability to terminate in order to avoid suffering. Rayna Rapp’s book, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus, presents the research she conducted regarding amniocentesis and the social effect of this prenatal test. Rapp analyzes the role religion, socioeconomic… Continue reading Cultures of Testing: The Moral Dilemmas of Prenatal Testing

Making Comparisons in Technology and Culture: Pregnancy in Japan and Israel

A quick Google search will tell you that the capital of Israel and the capital of Japan are over 5,600 miles apart. One might think that an unrealistic bridge must be created to make a connection between the two countries. But, as Tsipy Ivry states in the introduction of her book “Embodying Culture: Pregnancy in… Continue reading Making Comparisons in Technology and Culture: Pregnancy in Japan and Israel

What is Kinship?What’s it got to do with Reproduction and Religion?

The concept of kinship is paradoxical in its relative simplicity and ambiguity. This is likely due to the etymology of the word. From Old English, “cynn: family; race; kind; sort; rank; nature; tribe” implicates a broad spectrum of “-schipe: conditions; relations between” (Etymology Dictionary). Entangled in its semantic roots, anthropologists and etymologists alike seek to… Continue reading What is Kinship?What’s it got to do with Reproduction and Religion?

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