Ideologies and Technologies of Motherhood: Race, Class, Sexuality, Nationalism

Ideologies and Technologies of Motherhoodcharts new territory by exploring the notion of motherhood for women of differing classes, races, religions and nations in the light of various strategies and new technologies used to attain motherhood. This collection of essays by leading experts offers a wealth of ethnographic case studies that illustrate how women experience and practice motherhood in the United States, Egypt, Israel, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and other nations. By examining such topics as transracial adoption, surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization, pregnancy loss, and caring for disabled children, the contributors reveal how race, gender, kinship and personal identity are transformed through the lens of motherhood, and how motherhood itself is being reconfigured across national and cultural contexts.

Helena Ragone is Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston France Winddance Twine is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Associate Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle