Birth Controlled : Selective Reproduction and Neoliberal Eugenics in South Africa and India

This book analyses the world of selective reproduction – the politics of who gets to legitimately reproduce the future – by a cross-cultural analysis of three modes of ‘controlling’ birth: contraception, reproductive violence, and repro-genetic technologies. The premise is that as fertility rates decline worldwide, the fervour to control fertility, and fertile bodies, does not dissipate; what evolves is the preferred mode of control. Although new technologies, for instance those that assist conception and/or allow genetic selection, may appear to be the antithesis of violent versions of population control, the book demonstrates that both are part of the same continuum. Much as all population control policies target and vilify (Black) women for their over-fertility, and coerce/induce them into subjecting their bodies to state and medical surveillance, assisted reproductive technologies and repro-genetic technologies have a similar and stratified burden of blame and responsibility based on gender, race, class, and caste. The book includes contributions from two postcolonial nations – South Africa and India – where the history of colonialism and the economics of neoliberal markets allow for some parallel moments of selecting who gets to legitimately reproduce the future. The book provides a critical interdisciplinary and cutting-edge dialogue around the interconnected issues that shape reproductive politics in an ostensibly ‘post-population control’ era. The contributions range from gender studies, sociology, medical anthropology, politics, science and technology studies, to theology, public health, epidemiology and women’s health, with the aim of facilitating an interdisciplinary dialogue around the interconnected modes of controlling birth and practices of neo-eugenics. Birth controlled analyses the world of selective reproduction – the politics of who gets to legitimately reproduce the future – through a cross-cultural analysis of three modes of ‘controlling'birth: contraception, reproductive violence and repro-genetic technologies. It argues that as fertility rates decline worldwide, the fervour to control fertility, and fertile bodies, does not dissipate; what evolves is the preferred mode of control. Although new technologies like those that assist conception or allow genetic selection may appear to be an antithesis of other violent versions of population control, this book demonstrates that both are part of the same continuum. All population control policies target and vilify women (Black women in particular), and coerce them into subjecting their bodies to state and medical surveillance; Birth controlled argues that assisted reproductive technologies and repro-genetic technologies employ a similar and stratified burden of blame and responsibility based on gender, race, class and caste. To empirically and historically ground the analysis, the book includes contributions from two postcolonial nations, South Africa and India, examining interactions between the history of colonialism and the economics of neoliberal markets and their influence on the technologies and politics of selective reproduction.The book provides a critical, interdisciplinary and cutting-edge dialogue around the interconnected issues that shape reproductive politics in an ostensibly ‘post-population control'era. The contributions draw on a breadth of disciplines ranging from gender studies, sociology, medical anthropology, politics and science and technology studies to theology, public health and epidemiology, facilitating an interdisciplinary dialogue around the interconnected modes of controlling birth and practices of neo-eugenics.

Birth controlled analyses the world of selectivereproduction - the politics of who gets to legitimately reproducethe future - through a cross-cultural analysis of three modes of'controlling' birth: contraception, reproductive violence andrepro-genetic technologies. It argues that as fertility ratesdecline worldwide, the fervour to control fertility, and fertilebodies, does not dissipate; what evolves is the preferred mode ofcontrol. Although new technologies like those that assistconception or allow genetic selection may appear to be anantithesis of other violent versions of population control, thisbook demonstrates that both are part of the same continuum. Allpopulation control policies target and vilify women (Black women inparticular), and coerce them into subjecting their bodies to stateand medical surveillance; Birth controlled argues thatassisted reproductive technologies and repro-genetic technologiesemploy a similar and stratified burden of blame and responsibilitybased on gender, race, class and caste. To empirically andhistorically ground the analysis, the book includes contributionsfrom two postcolonial nations, South Africa and India, examininginteractions between the history of colonialism and the economicsof neoliberal markets and their influence on the technologies andpolitics of selective reproduction. The book provides a critical,interdisciplinary and cutting-edge dialogue around theinterconnected issues that shape reproductive politics in anostensibly 'post-population control' era. The contributions draw ona breadth of disciplines ranging from gender studies, sociology,medical anthropology, politics and science and technology studiesto theology, public health and epidemiology, facilitating aninterdisciplinary dialogue around the interconnected modes ofcontrolling birth and practices of neo-eugenics.

Front matter 1 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Notes on contributors 11 Foreword 18 Editor’s acknowledgement 22 Prologue 25 Introduction 26 Part I: Birth projects 37 Birth projects, selective reproduction and neoliberal eugenics 39 Spectres of biological politics: conversations within and across South Asia 60 Ved Garbh Vihar: Hindutva’s latest neo-eugenic repronational project 84 Racialising ancient skeletons: how haplogroups are mobilised in the re-writing of origin stories in the Indian media 108 Bio-power and assisted reproductive technologies in the global south: an ethical response from South Africa informed by vulnerability and justice 136 Part II: Birth violated 153 Injectable contraceptives: technologies of power and language of rights 155 Stratified and violent: young women’s experiences of access to reproductive health in southern Africa 180 The politics of naming: contested vocabularies of birth violence 206 Individuals, institutions, and the global political economy: unpacking intentionality in obstetric violence 234 Part III: Birth assisted 265 Caste and the stratification of reproductive labour: Dalit feminist voices from the field 267 Hamstrung by hardship: protecting egg donors’ reproductive labour in Kolkata, India 291 The egg donation economy in South Africa: different levels of biopolitics 318 Subjects of scarcity: making white egg providers in the repro-hub of South Africa 338 The resurgence of eugenics through egg donation in South Africa: race as a central and ‘obvious’ choice 365 Epilogue 392 Index 394 This book analyses the world of selective reproduction - interventions that influence reproductive outcomes and allow only some pregnancies to be borne to fruition - by a critical analysis of three modes of controlling birth, namely contraception, reproductive violence, and repro-genetic technologies. -- .