Join us on Wednesday the 7th December, 10:30-12pm! 

This event will be held via Zoom, please register here to recieve the link before the event is due to start. 

All welcome!

Event abstract:

There is limited research on why urban, educated individuals may choose not to have children in India- a country that is perceived to be highly pronatalist. Neomalthusian concerns around population explosion continue to be foregrounded in public discourse and state policies on family planning, despite fertility rates dipping to replacement level for the country, and below replacement levels in several Indian states. This research explores the reasons why urban, educated individuals are “choosing” to be childfree in India. The methods used in this study include anthropologically informed qualitative methods alongside participant observation on digital platforms and analysis of digital data.

I use two organising concepts in this talk – “disruptions” explore the extent to which not biologically procreating has the potential to challenge dominant and entrenched norms around reproduction; “continuities” allow us to examine the extent to which these groups and individuals may be reinforcing existing norms and belief systems. The discursive and material practices of childfree groups and individuals are nuanced and complex – they defy compartmentalisation into binaries such as progressive/regressive, modern/primitive, local/global, and religious/secular, an allegory for a nation that is undergoing massive transformation, both aided and impeded by the techno-material practices of its citizens.