Substantial Relations: Making Global Reproductive Medicine in Postcolonial India

Sandra Bärnreuther

Open Access Published by Cornell University Press 2023

Substantial Relations

Making Global Reproductive Medicine in Postcolonial India

Sandra Bärnreuther
Funded by: Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique/Swiss National Science Foundation

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501758201

Overview
Contents

About this book

Substantial Relations examines global reproductive medicine in India, focusing on in vitro fertilization. Since the 1970s, India has played a central but shifting role in shaping global reproductive medicine—from a provider of raw material, to a producer of knowledge and technology, to a creator of a thriving medical market that attracts patients from all over the world. Relying on archival material and oral history, Substantial Relations traces the path of this transnational historical trajectory. This book also examines the contemporary making of IVF in Delhi. Drawing on ethnographic research in homes, hospitals, and laboratories, Sandra Bärnreuther provides deep insights into the intricacies of clinical life and everyday experience by depicting IVF users' quest for offspring and their fears of establishing unwanted ties, as well as the minute engagements of clinicians and laboratory staff with reproductive substances.

Thinking through substances—metaphorically and materially—Sandra Bärnreuther provides a novel and rich analysis of the various relations that the burgeoning IVF sector in India has relied on and generated. Substantial Relations contributes to a broader understanding of reproductive medicine as a global phenomenon constantly in the making, situating India in the midst of, rather than peripheral to, this process.

Author / Editor information

Sandra Bärnreuther is Assistant Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Reviews

Sarah Hodges, University of Warwick, author of Contraception, Colonialism, and Commerce:

Substantial Relations presents the engaging narrative of how IVF emerged as a practical therapy in India. Sandra Bärnreuther persuasively examines the substances, relations, and context of global reproductive medicine in the subcontinent.

Daisy Deomampo, Fordham University, author of Transnational Reproduction:

Clearly written and thorough, Substantial Relations investigates reproduction, medicine, and globalization in India, reaching across time and space to illustrate the making of global reproductive medicine in India.

The book is a recommended read for all scholars working in the area of infertility/fertility and kinship studies.

Bärnreuther (Univ. of Lucerne, Switzerland) skillfully uses anthropological fieldwork (conducted from 2010 to 2017) and archival research to describe and analyze this growing IVF medical system.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	i
Contents Open Access Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	ix
Note on Transliteration Open Access Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
1. From Urine to Ampoule: The Commodity Chain of a Hormone Open Access Download PDF	22
2. From Dismissal to Recognition: A Contested Claim Open Access Download PDF	38
3. From Hobby to Industry: How IVF Diversified Open Access Download PDF	58
4. The Clinic and Beyond: Reproductive Temporalities Open Access Download PDF	76
5. When Cells Circulate: Unwanted Ties Open Access Download PDF	101
6. Inside the Laboratory: Embryo Ethics Open Access Download PDF	119
Epilogue Open Access Download PDF	136
Notes Open Access Download PDF	141
References Open Access Download PDF	151
Index Open Access Download PDF	169

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 192
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 13
- Images: 13
- Other: 13 b&w halftones
Keywords: Reproductive technologies India; IVF in India; History of reproductive medicine; Making of IVF; Substances Anthropology; In Vitro Fertilization

eBook

Published: December 15, 2021
ISBN: 9781501758201