The embodiment of fear: Reproductive health and migrant women’s choices, in Verona, Italy

Abstract

This article discusses the results of ethnographic research conducted in the municipality of Verona (Veneto Region, Northeast Italy), during 2018, aimed at analysing the reproductive health needs of migrant women, and their access to such services in the territory. The research highlighted that, in addition to many critical structural-organizational issues, there was an emotional obstacle to the use of services – that is, the feeling of fear. In this paper, therefore, we will try to reflect on the role exercised by fear in the relationship between migrant women and reproductive health services. We interpret this emotion not as the expression of an individual experience and feeling, but rather as an example of “embedded thinking”; the result of a social construction that reflects dynamics and power relationships, capable of transforming feelings into practices.