Conceiving Kinship

Monica M.E. Bonaccorso is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Durham, following a position as Affiliated Lecturer and Wellcome Trust Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

• BoxesForewordAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Locating Conceiving Kinship: New Subjects, New BoundariesIntroductionAn Overview of Anthropological Enquiry into Assisted ConceptionAn Overview of Italian AnthropologyChapter 2. Research in Place: Shifting Fields of EnquiryIntroductionMultiple Investigations, Sites, InformantsMain InvestigationComparative InvestigationCollateral InvestigationChapter 3. Heterosexual Couples: Life Plans, Irreversible Infertility and the Choice of a Programme of Gamete DonationA Case: Anna and Artificial Insemination by DonorIntroductionPlanning Our Life, Planning Our ChildrenDiscovering Irreversible InfertilityChoosing a Programme of Gamete DonationNormalizing Gamete DonationDo It Quickly (and It Lasts Forever)Chapter 4. Heterosexual Couples: Gamete Donation, Donors and Biogenetic Make-upA Case: Matilde and Egg DonationIntroductionInfertile Couples, Biological Inheritance and Biogenetic Make-upCouples' Perception of Donors and DonationGood Intentions, Gifts and Donors' DisplacementChapter 5. Heterosexual Couples and Clinicians: Strategies in Private Clinics of Assisted ConceptionExtract from Field Notes: at Lunch with CliniciansIntroductionThe Provision of Services in Private Clinics of Assisted ConceptionLife around Clinics and Clinicians: Trust, Faith and DependencyThe Hyper-medicalized Infertile CoupleManaging Recurrent Failure in the ClinicGetting to Understand Programmes of Gamete DonationThe Work of Kinship in the ClinicChapter 6. Lesbian and Gay Couples Making Families by DonationA Case: a Lesbian Couple Planning a Family by DonationIntroductionLesbian and Gay Couples: Planning a Life TogetherPlanning FamiliesRethinking Motherhood and FatherhoodThe Lesbian and Gay Way: The Procreative ProjectThe Lesbian and Gay Way: Practices of InclusionThe Lesbian and Gay Way: Practices of RelatednessChapter 7. The Traffic in Kinship: Southern Europe and Euro-AmericaIntroductionEthnographic Reflections: Some Key NotionsProgrammes of Gamete Donation: Challenging (in Principle) the 'Model' Italian versus Euro-American Kinship: Generalizing the 'Model'A Concluding Note: Conceiving KinshipAppendix I: Assisted Conception in Italy: A Legislative and Political Controversy, 1996-99Towards a Unified Text: Political Controversies over LegislationThe Death of the Unified Text: The Rise of a New ControversyThe Political Project Behind Assisted Conception, 1996-99Appendix II: Profile of Infertile Heterosexual CouplesAppendix IIa: Profile of Lesbian and Gay CouplesBibliographyIndex

“…a fine example of how an anthropological approach, based on skilful ethnographic research, can illuminate the way kinship and family are understood in present-day culture…[The book] is an exemplary ethnography, building on previous works in this area and making advances in both methodology and theory.”  ·  Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale"Conceiving Kinship provides intriguing and important insights into a period of rapid and unregulated development in assisted conception in Italy in the late 1990s. The book draws us into detailed and sensitive accounts of couples' intentions, assumptions and actions during a time of shifting expectations about parenthood and the ways that one might become a parent. Rich interview and conversational material is gathered from heterosexual as well as homosexual couples in relation to a wide range of assisted conception scenarios. This detailed ethnographic fieldwork, combined with a sustained analytical interrogation, makes for a significant contribution to the complex mosaic of practices and values which lie beneath the Euro-American kinship label. It is one which will become an important reference point for future debates about assisted conception in Europe and beyond."  ·  Robert Simpson, Reader, University of Durham