1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996543170203316

Autore

Siegl Veronika

Titolo

Intimate Strangers : Commercial Surrogacy in Russia and Ukraine and the Making of Truth / / Veronika Siegl

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, NY : , : Cornell University Press, , [2023]

©2023

ISBN

1-5017-6993-6

1-5017-6994-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (306 p.)

Disciplina

306.874/3

Soggetti

Surrogate motherhood - Russia

Surrogate motherhood - Ukraine

Surrogate motherhood - Economic aspects - Russia

Surrogate motherhood - Economic aspects - Ukraine

Surrogate motherhood - Social aspects - Russia

Surrogate motherhood - Social aspects - Ukraine

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preliminary Notes -- Introduction -- Part I -- 1. The Biopolitics of Motherhood -- 2. Secret Conceptions -- Part II -- 3. Choreographing Surrogacy -- 4. Doing It Business-Style -- 5. Technologies of Alignment -- Part III -- 6. Laboring with Happiness -- 7. Ambivalences of Freedom -- Conclusion -- Afterword: Surrogacy in Times of War -- Appendix: Research Participants -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Zooming in on commercial surrogacy in Russia and Ukraine, Intimate Strangers addresses market expansion into the intimate spheres of life that play out on women's bodies as mothers and workers. Veronika Siegl follows the inner workings of a surrogacy market marked by secrecy, distrust, and anonymous business relationships. She explores intended mothers' anxious struggles for a child in light of stigmatized infertility and the aggressive biopolitics of motherhood; the uncertain but pragmatic pathways in and out of fertility clinics as surrogates navigate harsh economic realities and resist being objectified or



morally judged; and the powerful role of agents and doctors who have found a profitable niche in nurturing and facilitating other people's existential hopes. Intimate Strangers discusses these issues against the backdrop of ultra-conservatism and moral governance in Russia, the rising international popularity of the Ukrainian surrogacy market, and the pervasiveness of neo-liberal ideologies and individualized notions of reproductive freedom.