Contested Reproduction and Cultural Change: The Case of Odisha

Abstract

Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in India intersect with issues of gender, technology, kinship, commerce and politics and therefore have generated considerable public, ethical and academic debate. Sociologists play a significant role in understanding ways in which this technologically-mediated reproduction has been variously interpreted in these debates; whether it represents progress, promise or pressure. The article demonstrates how diverse cultural settings mediate the experiences of those engaging with ART, both as ‘users’ and ‘providers’. In India, ART involves the reconfiguration of individual, familial and social identities: for instance, when the agony of a childless woman gets negotiated through this ‘hope technology’. We look at the development of ART practices and how they encounter its seekers at the local level. The study also looks at ways in which infertile women deal with ART and use it to achieve, potentially, an ‘identity’. The study, focusing on diverse geographic locations in Odisha, is based on theoretical insights gained from extensive field research comprising interviews with users and providers covering a period from 2011–2014.