Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Biopower and Precarity: Meeting Embodied Self in the Discourses of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Ukraine

Vlasenko, Polina LU (2013) SIMV18 20131
Graduate School
Master of Science in Social Studies of Gender
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In this thesis I examine the connection between female embodiment and subjectivation, technologization of reproduction and rationalities of government in Ukraine, where assisted reproductive technologies (ART) were introduced not so long ago, but have already become part of the lived experience of numerous women and heated a large debate in society about the nature of women, motherhood, national duty, citizenship and demographic crisis.
Moreover, the study I accomplish is necessitated by the growing importance of Ukraine as a colonial market of cheap donor egg cells and as a target of transnational reproductive travel engendered by commercial surrogacy industry.
I applied the concepts of biopower and precarity to analyse the... (More)
In this thesis I examine the connection between female embodiment and subjectivation, technologization of reproduction and rationalities of government in Ukraine, where assisted reproductive technologies (ART) were introduced not so long ago, but have already become part of the lived experience of numerous women and heated a large debate in society about the nature of women, motherhood, national duty, citizenship and demographic crisis.
Moreover, the study I accomplish is necessitated by the growing importance of Ukraine as a colonial market of cheap donor egg cells and as a target of transnational reproductive travel engendered by commercial surrogacy industry.
I applied the concepts of biopower and precarity to analyse the subjectivation of women who undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and reveal which power technologies act on their bodies and subjects. In order to give an account of a plurality of meanings that constitute the social reality of ART, I have analysed three discourses, in particular the discourses of the state, medical professionals and IVF patients. To gather the necessary data I have conducted semi-structured interviews with directors of infertility clinics and women who completed IVF and considered articles in professional medical journals, ministerial programmes and orders, legal framework with regard to the use of ART. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Vlasenko, Polina LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV18 20131
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
precarity, biopower, assisted reproductive technologies, ukraine, subjectivation, rationalities of government, normalization of motherhood, biological citizenship
language
English
id
4005014
date added to LUP
2013-09-03 08:16:16
date last changed
2014-04-22 15:01:03
@misc{4005014,
  abstract     = {{In this thesis I examine the connection between female embodiment and subjectivation, technologization of reproduction and rationalities of government in Ukraine, where assisted reproductive technologies (ART) were introduced not so long ago, but have already become part of the lived experience of numerous women and heated a large debate in society about the nature of women, motherhood, national duty, citizenship and demographic crisis. 
Moreover, the study I accomplish is necessitated by the growing importance of Ukraine as a colonial market of cheap donor egg cells and as a target of transnational reproductive travel engendered by commercial surrogacy industry.
I applied the concepts of biopower and precarity to analyse the subjectivation of women who undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and reveal which power technologies act on their bodies and subjects. In order to give an account of a plurality of meanings that constitute the social reality of ART, I have analysed three discourses, in particular the discourses of the state, medical professionals and IVF patients. To gather the necessary data I have conducted semi-structured interviews with directors of infertility clinics and women who completed IVF and considered articles in professional medical journals, ministerial programmes and orders, legal framework with regard to the use of ART.}},
  author       = {{Vlasenko, Polina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Biopower and Precarity: Meeting Embodied Self in the Discourses of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Ukraine}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}