A Portrait of Assisted Reproduction in Mexico

This book paints a comprehensive portrait of Mexico's system of assisted reproduction first from a historical perspective, then from a more contemporary viewpoint. Based on a detailed analysis of books and articles published between the 1950s and 1980s, the first section tells the story of how the epistemic, normative, and material infrastructure of the assisted reproduction system was built. It traces the professionalization process of assisted reproduction as a medical field and the establishment of its professional association. Drawing on ethnographic material, the second part looks at how this system developed and flourished from the 1980s up to 2010, its commercialization process, how the expansion of reproductive services took place, and the messages regarding reproductive technologies that circulated within a wide discursive landscape. Given its scope and methods, this book will appeal to scholars interested in science and technology studies, reproduction studies, history of medicine, medical anthropology, and sociology.

Offers an important contribution to the burgeoning sub-field of social studies of assisted reproductive technologies, which are increasingly being carried out in countries outside of Euro-America Situates the introduction of AR technologies in Mexico through the social, cultural, and postcolonial historical frames that dictated how it was incorporated into broader biomedical practice Adopts a multi-layered STS framework, incorporating feminist STS, postcolonial STS, and biomedical STS

Autorentext

Sandra P. González Santos, PhD is a part-time researcher at the Bioethics Faculty at the Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City and a member of Changing (In)Fertilities (Cambridge University). She has been researching the field of assisted reproduction in Mexico from a science and technology studies perspective since 2006.

Klappentext

This book paints a comprehensive portrait of Mexicös system of assisted reproduction first from a historical perspective, then from a more contemporary viewpoint. Based on a detailed analysis of books and articles published between the 1950s and 1980s, the first section tells the story of how the epistemic, normative, and material infrastructure of the assisted reproduction system was built. It traces the professionalization process of assisted reproduction as a medical field and the establishment of its professional association. Drawing on ethnographic material, the second part looks at how this system developed and flourished from the 1980s up to 2010, its commercialization process, how the expansion of reproductive services took place, and the messages regarding reproductive technologies that circulated within a wide discursive landscape. Given its scope and methods, this book will appeal to scholars interested in science and technology studies, reproduction studies, history of medicine, medical anthropology, and sociology.

Zusammenfassung
"The book is an outstanding contribution to the field of Science and Technology Studies in Latin America ... . The book is of great value to both postcolonial and feminist scholars with an interest on the complex relation between science and reproduction, between a global governance of health and the distinctively local hierarchies to which modernity so easily accommodates." (Abril Saldaña-Tejeda, Tapuya, January 31, 2020)
"A Portrait of Assisted Reproduction in Mexico is appropriate for undergraduates and advanced readers interested in reproduction, gender, class inequality, Mexico, discourse analysis, commodification, and Science and Technology Studies. A Portrait is beautifully written and offers many layers of methodological and theoretical insights to its readers." (Rosalynn Vega, Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online, Vol. 9, 2019)

Inhalt
An apology and a long thank you.- A National Portrait.- Part 1: Origin.- The power of stories.- Chapter 1: Interest in Sterility.- Chapter 2: Managing Reproduction.- Shifting.- Chapter 3: Interest in Assisting Reproduction.- Part 2 Reproducing Assisted Reproduction.- ARTs as Technological Innovation & Cultural Novelty.- Chapter 4: The Universe is Expanding.- Chapter 5: The Discursive Landscape.- Chapter 6: Contemplating a Repronational Portrait.- Appendix.- Glossary.- References.