Women's Bodies, Women's Worries: Health and Family Planning in a Vietnamese Rural Commune (Vietnam in Transition Series)

The first fully-fledged ethnography on health-related issues to come out of contemporary Vietnam, Women's Bodies, Women's Worries is a study of women's lives in a rural commune in Vietnam's Red River delta. Starting as an examination of the impact of Vietnam's ambitious family planning policy on the health and lives of rural women, the study explores historical and contemporary socio-cultural forces which influence the lives of Vietnamese women. What begins as an investigation of contraceptive side effects becomes an inquiry into the daily lives of rural women, an examination of the moral ideologies by which women's lives are circumscribed, and an exploration of the ways women themselves manage and negotiate the moral demands and social relations which constitute daily lives. In addition, the book provides a sympathetic account of the everyday lives and concerns of rural women while also including theoretical considerations of the social grounding of bodily experience, the cultural meanings of health and illness, and the everyday politics of emotional expression. The First Fully-fledged Ethnography On Health-related Issues To Come Out Of Contemporary Vietnam, Women's Bodies, Women's Worries Is A Study Of Women's Lives In A Rural Commune In The Red River Delta. Starting As An Examination Of The Impact Of Vietnam's Ambitious Family Planning Policy On The Health And Lives Of Rural Women, The Study Explores Historical And Contemporary Socio-cultural Forces Which Influence The Lives Of Vietnamese Women.--book Jacket. 1. Introduction -- 2. Fieldwork -- 3. Planning Happy Families -- 4. The Iud And Women's Health -- 5. Body And Health -- 6. Local Moral Worlds -- 7. The Expression Of Distress -- 8. Conclusion: Antropologies Of Suffering And Resistance. Tine Gammeltoft. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [251]-267) And Index. The IUD is central to the Vietnamese family planning programme; three out of four users of modern methods of contraception rely upon it (GSO 1995).