Anthropology of Reproduction: The Basics is a clear and accessible guide to topics in reproduction from the perspective of anthropology, emphasizing the central importance of reproduction in human sociocultural and biological experience. It examines why reproduction matters so much to human beings and what anthropology offers to better understand their decisions about having or not having children, and their experiences with periods, infertility, contraception, abortion, pregnancy, pregnancy loss, birth, and care for children. The book shows that all of reproduction is shaped by our evolution, prehistory and history, as well as the cultural, social, political, and economic contexts and conditions that impact our lives. It tells the story of how these conditions enable, support, constrain or coerce reproduction – and how people around the world survive or thrive within, comply with, or resist against these forces to create their reproductive futures. Its primary goals are to promote:
· an understanding of human reproduction as sociocultural and biological experience
· awareness of and attention to the sociocultural, historical, political, and economic contexts and conditions influence the ideas and practices of human reproduction, particularly how social inequities shape reproduction and, in turn, how we can move towards more equal and just reproductive futures.
· to introduce and reinforce an understanding of anthropology as a discipline taking a holistic approach to human experiences. This student-friendly text provides an overview of the fundamental principles of reproduction and is an invaluable guide for anyone wanting to learn more about this fascinating subject.
It is an essential read for students approaching the subject for the first time, as well as researchers coming to the topic from another discipline in the sciences and humanities.
1 Why reproduction matters and what the anthropology of reproduction offers
Four-field anthropology and the study of reproduction
How does the anthropology of reproduction help us understand reproduction?
Key axes of oppression: Colonialism and race, sex, and gender inequalities
Reproductive justice
Reproduction as reckoning
Overview of this book
Summary
Further Exploring
· Readings in the anthropology of reproduction
· Resources on reproductive justice
References
2 Menstruation, contraception, and abortion
Menstruation
· The meanings of menstruation
· The endometrial cycle
· Period products
· Regulating menstruation
· Menopause
Contraception
· Gendered division of birth control
· Sterilization and long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs)
Abortion
Summary
Further Exploring
· Menstruation
· Contraception
· Abortion
References
3 Infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and reproductive losses
Infertility, unwanted childlessness, and the “quest for conception”
· Seeking solutions for childlessness
· The infertility treatment journey
Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs)
· Alleviating the gendered burden of infertility
· Marriage, kinship, and religion
· Troubling kinship relations
· Surrogacy, kinship, race/ethnicity and the nation
· ARTs and ideologies of race and nation
· The political economy of ARTs
· ARTs as a reproductive justice issue
Reproductive losses
· Pregnancy loss and its meanings
· Experiencing loss
· Losing a pregnancy
· Repeat losses
· Reproductive loss and reproductive justice
Summary
Further Exploring
References
4 Pregnancy and birth
Pregnancy
· The paradoxes of pregnancy
· Pregnancy as an occasion for ritual
· Prenatal biomedical care and diagnostic testing
· Imperfect woman, perfectible pregnancy
Birth
· Birth, culture, and social support
· Who assists or attends to birthing people: Kinship, care and biomedicalization
· Racism, colonialism, and biomedicine in birth
· Where births take place: Sites of safety or violence
Summary
Further Exploring
· Pregnancy
· Birth
References
5 Postpartum, infant, and other care
The postpartum period – care, community and kinship
Evolutionary roots
What happened to the postpartum period and infant care?
The transformation of breastfeeding to infant feeding – and back again?
Infant sleep and breastsleeping
“Transgressive” breastfeeding and milk sharing
Breastfeeding and infectious disease
Breastfeeding and emergencies
Collective models of care
Reproductive justice and the return to community postpartum and infant care
Summary
Further Exploring
· Breastfeeding and lactation
· Infant sleep
· Alloparents
References
6 Struggles and movements toward reproductive justice
Population and fertility crises in context
· From anti-natalism to pronatalism in South Korea
· Anti-natalism, anti-immigration, and pro-nationalism
Reproduction in times and places of armed conflict and war
· Pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding in Gaza, 2023-2024
· Female combatants, sexual violence, and the removal of children in Ukraine, 2022-2024
Continuing fights for reproductive rights, freedom and justice
· Fighting for access to birth control and abortion
· The struggle for LGBTQ+ recognition
· Struggles against racism in sexuality, birth and infant care
Conceiving our future
Summary
Further Exploring
References
Glossary
Index
Biography
Sallie Han is Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Oneonta, USA. She is the author of Pregnancy in Practice: Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary US (2013), co-editor of The Anthropology of the Fetus: Biology, Culture, and Society (2018) and The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction (2022). Cecília Tomori is Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA. She is the author of Nighttime Breastfeeding: An American Cultural Dilemma (2014), co-editor of Breastfeeding: New Anthropological Approaches (2018) and The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction (2022), and numerous other publications.
“The approach is fresh, the writing accessible and engaging. The authors have deep knowledge of the subject and convey it with clarity and enthusiasm […] Han and Tomori are far and away the best scholars for the job.” – Carole H. Browner, Co-editor of Reproduction, Globalization, and the State (Duke 2012), UCLA
“Care is taken to situate human reproduction holistically; this is useful not only for students with a background in anthropology – it gives students in other disciplines a different and more complete picture of human reproduction.” – Keri Canada, Colorado State University
“Anthropology's holistic approach makes it an ideal discipline for studying reproduction. This text utilizes that comprehensive perspective, emphasizing the importance of understanding diverse contexts—political, economic, historical, and racial—to educate readers on social inequalities.” – Angela Castañeda, DePauw University
