On having an own child : reproductive technologies and the cultural construction of childhood / Karin Lesnik-Oberstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lesnik-Oberstein, Karín.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parenthood--Psychological aspects.

Parenthood.

Child psychology.

Human reproductive technology--Social aspects.

Human reproductive technology.

Human reproductive technology--Psychological aspects.

Parenthood--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (293 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London : Karnac Books, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How are ideas of genetics, 'blood', the family, and relatedness created and consumed? This is the first book ever to consider in depth why people want children, and specifically why people want children produced by reproductive technologies (such as IVF, ICSI etc) As the book demonstrates, even books ostensibly devoted to the topic of why people want children and the reasons for using reproductive technologies tend to start with the assumption that this is either simply a biological drive to reproduce, or a socially instilled desire. This book uses psychoanalysis not to provide an answer in its own right, but as an analytic tool to probe more deeply the problems of these assumptions. The idea that reproductive technologies simply supply an 'own' child is questioned in this volume in terms of asking how and why reproductive technologies are seen to create this 'ownness'. Given that it is the idea of an 'own' child that underpins and justifies the whole use of reproductive technologies, this book is a crucial and wholly original intervention in this complex and highly topical area.

Contents:

Cover; Copy Right; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; ABOUT THE AUTHOR; INTRODUCTION; CHAPTER ONE: The wanting of a baby: nature, history, culture, and society; CHAPTER TWO: The wanting of a baby: desire, despair, hope, and regret; CHAPTER THREE: The child that is wanted: perfection and commodification; CHAPTER FOUR: The child that is wanted: kinship and the body of evidence; CHAPTER FIVE: The child that is wanted: reading race and the global child; CHAPTER SIX: Conclusion: coming to grief in theory; REFERENCES

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-194) and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

0-429-91695-7

0-429-90272-7

0-429-47795-3

1-283-07056-1

9786613070562

1-84940-644-8

9780429477959

OCLC:

723944344