1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780829703321

Autore

Ivry Tsipy

Titolo

Embodying culture [[electronic resource] ] : pregnancy in Japan and Israel / / Tsipy Ivry

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, c2010

ISBN

1-280-49349-6

9786613588722

0-8135-4830-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (313 p.)

Collana

Studies in medical anthropology

Disciplina

612.6/30952

Soggetti

Pregnancy - Japan

Pregnancy - Israel

Pregnant women - Medical care - Japan

Pregnant women - Medical care - Israel

Medical anthropology - Japan

Medical anthropology - Israel

Japan Social life and customs

Israel Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: pregnancy, cultural comparison, multisited ethnographies -- The doctoring of pregnancy -- A risky business: pregnancy in the eyes of Israeli ob-gyns -- The twofold structure of Japanese prenatal care -- Experiencing pregnancy -- The path of bonding -- The path of ambiguity -- Embodying culture: toward an anthropology of pregnancy -- Juxtapositions -- Pregnant with meaning.

Sommario/riassunto

Embodying Culture is an ethnographically grounded exploration of pregnancy in two different cultures-Japan and Israel-both of which medicalize pregnancy. Tsipy Ivry focuses on "low-risk" or "normal" pregnancies, using cultural comparison to explore the complex relations among ethnic ideas about procreation, local reproductive politics, medical models of pregnancy care, and local modes of maternal agency. The ethnography pieces together the voices of



pregnant Japanese and Israeli women, their doctors, their partners, the literature they read, and depicts various clinical encounters such as ultrasound scans, explanatory classes for amniocentesis, birthing classes, and special pregnancy events. The emergent pictures suggest that athough experiences of pregnancy in Japan and Israel differ, pregnancy in both cultures is an energy-consuming project of meaning-making- suggesting that the sense of biomedical technologies are not only in the technologies themselves but are assigned by those who practice and experience them.