Channel of Desire: Fetal Ultrasonography in Two Use-Contexts

Abstract

This article describes couples' experiences with fetal ultrasonography as a type of technology transfer. Framing information obtained from multiple interviews conducted with 62 childbearing couples within Ihde's conceptualization of a cultural hermeneutics of technology, the author argues that fetal ultrasonography has different meanings in the use-contexts of obstetric practice and parenthood. Although fetal ultrasonography is typically located in obstetric literature within the technology of prenatal diagnosis that is aimed at monitoring fetal development and detecting fetal impairments, the childbearing couples interviewed tended to locate fetal ultrasonography within the realm of parental appraisal, acquaintance, and care. The implications of these different contexts are addressed.