Making Parents: The Ontological Choreography Of Reproductive Technologies (inside Technology)

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Assisted reproductive technology (ART) makes babies and parents at once. Drawing on science and technology studies, feminist theory, and historical and ethnographic analyses of ART clinics, Charis Thompson explores the intertwining of biological reproduction with the personal, political, and technological meanings of reproduction. She analyzes the "ontological choreography" at ART clinics -- the dynamics by which technical, scientific, kinship, gender, emotional, legal, political, financial, and other matters are coordinated -- using ethnographic data to address questions usually treated in the abstract. Reproductive technologies, says Thompson, are part of the increasing tendency to turn social problems into biomedical questions and can be used as a lens through which to see the resulting changes in the relations between science and society.After giving an account of the book's disciplinary roots in science and technology studies and in feminist scholarship on reproduction, Thompson comes to the ethnographic heart of her study. She develops her concept of ontological choreography by examining ART's normalization of "miraculous" technology (including the etiquette of technological sex); gender identity in the assigned roles of mother and father and the conservative nature of gender relations in the clinic; the naturalization of technologically assisted kinship and procreative intent; and patients' pursuit of agency through objectification and technology. Finally, Thompson explores the economies of reproductive technologies, concluding with a speculative and polemical look at the "biomedical mode of reproduction" as a predictor of future relations between science and society.

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Charis Thompson Making Parents The Ontological Choreography of Reproductive Technologies Making Parents Inside Technology edited by Wiebe E. Bijker, W. Bernard Carlson, and Trevor Pinch A list of books in this series appears at the back of the book. Making Parents The Ontological Choreography of Reproductive Technologies Charis Thompson The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England ( 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] mitpress.mit.edui or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in New Baskerville on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thompson, Charis Making parents : the ontological choreography of reproductive technologies / Charis Thompson. p. cm. — (Inside technology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-262-20156-9 (hc. : alk. paper) 1. Human reproductive technology—United States—History. 2. Human reproductive technology—Social aspects—United States. 3. Human reproductive technology—Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series. RG133.5.T495 2005 616.60 9206—dc22 2004062112 For John and for Thomas, Jessica, and Charlotte Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Making Parents: Selective Pronatalism, Ontological Choreography, a Biomedical Mode of Reproduction, Methods, Reading This Book, and Where I Stand 1 I Disciplinary Stakes 1 Science and Society: Some Varieties of Science and Technology Studies 2 Fertile Ground: Feminists T
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