The Politics of Duplicity : Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania / Gail Kligman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kligman, Gail, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Birth control--Moral and ethical aspects--Romania.

Birth control--Moral and ethical aspects.

Romania--Population policy.

Romania.

Romania--Politics and government--1944-1989.

Romania--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 p.) : 13 photographs, 9 figs., 12 tables

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1998]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The political hypocrisy and personal horrors of one of the most repressive anti-abortion regimes in history came to the world's attention soon after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Photographs of orphans with vacant eyes, sad faces, and wasted bodies circled the globe, as did alarming maternal mortality statistics and heart-breaking details of a devastating infant AIDS epidemic. Gail Kligman's chilling ethnography-of the state and of the politics of reproduction-is the first in-depth examination of this extreme case of political intervention into the most intimate aspects of everyday life.Ceausescu's reproductive policies, among which the banning of abortion was central, affected the physical and emotional well-being not only of individual men, women, children, and families but also of society as a whole. Sexuality, intimacy, and fertility control were fraught with fear, which permeated daily life and took a heavy moral toll as lying and dissimulation transformed both individuals and the state. This powerful study is based on moving interviews with women and physicians as well as on documentary and archival material. In addition to discussing the social implications and human costs of restrictive reproductive legislation, Kligman explores the means by which reproductive issues become embedded in national and international agendas. She concludes with a review of the lessons the rest of the world can learn from Romania's tragic experience.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

TABLES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTE ON DIACRITICS

Introduction: Politics, Reproduction, and Duplicity

1. Building Socialism in Ceausescu's Romania: Politics as Performance

2. Legislating Reproduction under Socialism

3. "Protecting" Women, Children, and the Family

4. Institutionalizing Political Demography: The Medicalization of Repression

5. Spreading the Word—Propaganda

6. Bitter Memories: The Politics of Reproduction in Everyday Life

7. Legacies of Political Demography

8. Coercion and Reproductive Politics: Lessons from Romania

APPENDIX: COURT CASES

NOTES

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography (p. 331-346) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520919853

0520919858

9780585047706

0585047707

OCLC:

1163878741