Making modern mothers : ethics and family planning in urban greece / Heather Paxson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paxson, Heather, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminist anthropology--Greece--Athens.

Feminist anthropology.

Women--Greece--Athens--Social conditions.

Women.

Motherhood--Greece--Athens.

Motherhood.

Birth control--Greece--Athens--Public opinion.

Birth control.

Public opinion--Greece--Athens.

Public opinion.

Athens (Greece)--Social life and customs.

Athens (Greece).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Greece, women speak of mothering as "within the nature" of a woman. But this durable association of motherhood with femininity exists in tension with the highest incidence of abortion and one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe. In this setting, how do women think of themselves as proper individuals, mothers, and Greek citizens? In this anthropological study of reproductive politics and ethics in Athens, Greece, Heather Paxson tracks the effects of increasing consumerism and imported biomedical family planning methods, showing how women's "nature" is being transformed to meet crosscutting claims of the contemporary world. Locating profound ambivalence in people's ethical evaluations of gender and fertility control, Paxson offers a far-reaching analysis of conflicting assumptions about what it takes to be a good mother and a good woman in modern Greece, where assertions of cultural tradition unfold against a backdrop of European Union integration, economic struggle, and national demographic anxiety over a falling birth rate.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

A Note on Transliteration

Prologue

1. Realizing Nature

2. Remaking Mothers

3. Rationalizing Sex

4. Maternal Citizens

5. Technologies of Greek Motherhood

Appendix 1. Total Fertility Rates, European Union Countries, 1960-2000

Appendix 2. Legislation of the Greek State Pertaining to Gender Equality, Marriage, Family, and Reproduction

Appendix 3. Birthrates, Greece, 1934-1999

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612762918

1-59734-727-2

1-282-76291-5

0-520-93713-9

OCLC:

475929472