Call for Abstracts
By: Martin Wingfield
Last updated: Tuesday, 7 November 2017
25th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), 24-27 July 2018, Paris
Panel title: Body politics, female subjectivities and reproductive health rights in South Asia
Panel organisers: Maya Unnithan, Sayani Mitra
Department of Anthropology, Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Goettingen, Germany
Short panel abstract: This session seeks to explore the growing popularity of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) like IVF, surrogacy, egg and sperm donation alongside inequalities in access to fertility treatment, contraception, abortion and maternal health care in South Asia.
Long panel abstract: This session seeks to explore the growing popularity of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) like IVF, surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, artificial insemination alongside critical issues to do with rights, ethics and justice which emerge around inequalities in access to fertility treatment, contraception, abortion and maternal health care in South Asia. The rapid privatization of healthcare accompanied by the transnationalisation of fertility treatment in several South Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka for example, has enabled women to participate in reproductive labour, seek fertility assistance and redefine meanings of kinship and family. At the same time, a shifting interest on (in) fertility assistance has led to the neglect of other domains of reproductive health and psychological well-being, further depriving women of their basic entitlements and rights. Papers in the panel will discuss the emerging discursive practices around reproduction and its juxtaposition with the complexities of culture, technology, market, justice and ethics that often appear antithetical to each other.
Please submit your abstracts online by 30 November 2017 at midnight (GMT).
https://www.ecsas2018.org/call-for-papers/
Abstracts submitted via fax, e-mail, post, or other methods will generally not be accepted. Decisions will be communicated to authors by mid-January, 2018