Course Description and Objectives

This course is a cross-cultural exploration of human behavior related to reproduction. We will study the interactive influence of biological, social, economic, political, cultural, and behavioral factors on human reproduction. Topics include basic demographic principles and demographic transition theory and its critique; fertility control and population issues; sexual behavior and fertility regulation; indigenous and modern methods of contraception and abortion; the patterning of perinatal behavior (pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum); child survival; midwifery and western obstetrics; and issues of gender and power in reproduction. Social science, medical, public health, and demographic literature are used to provide a broad understanding of reproductive behavior and population processes, problems, and programs in the contemporary world.

Assignments and Evaluation

The course will be conducted in seminar style. Each student's active participation and contributions to discussion are important. Readings are to be read by the date under which they appear for discussion on that day. For some sessions, readings will be informally assigned to/or "claimed" by one or more students who have a special interest in the topic. These students will be responsible for a thorough reading and evaluation of the assigned reading which will be presented in class prior to discussion. Depending on class size, students can anticipate leading discussion 3-5 times over the semester.

Aside from required readings, class presentation of readings, and general class participation, a paper of no more than 25 pages in length (typed, double spaced) is required. The paper should involve some library and/or field research on a topic related to human reproduction, fertility, or population issues. Please clear your topic with me by October 29. Students have the option of turning in a draft of their paper by November 19 for comments and suggestions. Drafts will be returned by December 3. All papers are due on the last day of class, December 10. Students will present summaries of their research during the last session of class, December 10.

Grades will be based on class participation and presentations (1/2) and the paper (1/2). There will be no formal examinations.
 
 

Required Books

1) Brown, Sarah S. and Leon Eisenberg (eds.) 1995. The Best Intentions. Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-being of Children and Families. Committee on Unintended Pregnancy, Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

2) Hatcher, Robert A., et al. Contraceptive Technology 2001, 17^th Revised Edition. New York: Ardent media, Inc.

3) Haupt, Arthur and Thomas T. Kane 1998. Population Handbook. 4^th International Edition, Population Reference Bureau.

4) Jordan, Brigitte 1993. Birth in Four Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States, 4th Edition. Prospect Heights, IL:Waveland Press, Inc.

5) Luker, Kristin 1984. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press.

6) Medical Anthropology Quarterly Volume 10, Number 2, June 1996.

7) National Research Council, Contraception and Reproduction. Health Consequences for Women in the Developing World. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

8) Newman, Lucille F. (ed.) 1995. Women’s Medicine. A Cross-Cultural Study of Indigenous Fertility Regulation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

9) World Population Data Sheet 2001. Population Reference Bureau. (also on-line)
 

These books can be purchased at the UCONN COOP Bookstore. They are also on reserve at the Homer Babbidge Library.
 

Required Readings

Readings which are not in textbooks will be starred (*) and xerox copies will be available in the Beach Hall seminar room 447A.
 
 

CLASS SCHEDULE

        1. AUGUST 31 CANCELLED

       PART 1. FERTILITY REGULATION

        2. SEPTEMBER 10         ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING AND INTRODUCTION

        3. SEPTEMBER 17         POPULATION AND FERTILITY

        4. SEPTEMBER 24         REPRODUCTIVE PATTERNS AND MCH

        5. OCTOBER 1               CULTURE AND FERTILITY BEHAVIOR

        6. OCTOBER 15             TRADITIONAL FERTILITY REGULATION

        7. OCTOBER 22             MODERN FERTILITY REGULATION
            APHA Meetings, October 21-25, Atlanta

        8. OCTOBER 29             ABORTION

        9. NOVEMBER 12            INFERTILITY, HIV, AND RTIs

      PART 2. PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH, AND POSTPARTUM PRACTICES

        10. NOVEMBER19         ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY AND CHILDBEARING

        11. NOVEMBER 26         PERINATAL PRACTICES - CULTURAL PRACTICES
                                                  POSTPARTUM AND INFANT FEEDING

            AAA meetings, November 28 - December 2, Washington, D.C.

        12. DECEMBER 3            PERINATAL PRACTICES - BIRTH TECHNOLOGY

        14. DECEMBER 10         MIDWIVES

        15. DECEMBER 17         TERM PAPER PRESENTATIONS

                    TERM PAPERS DUE MONDAY, DECEMBER 17
 
 

READINGS

SEPTEMBER 17     POPULATION AND FERTILITY

Required:

In Hatcher, et al. (eds.) 1998. Contraceptive Technology.

Chapter 30. James Trussell, Reproductive Behavior and Population Change, pp. 745-777.

Haupte and Kane Population Handbook. Familiarize yourself with the basic definitions.

World Population Data Sheet 2001. Browse your favorite countries and bring to class.

* Chamie, Joseph 2001. Population and Health, pp. 251-259 in Koop, et al. (eds.), Critical Issues in Global Health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. A Wiley Company.

* Polgar, Steven 1972. Population History and Population Policies from an Anthropological Perspective. Current Anthropology 13(2):203-211.

* Greenhalgh, Susan 1995. Anthropology Theorizes Reproduction: Integrating Practice, Political Economic, and Feminist Perspectives. In Susan Greenhalgh (ed.) Situating Fertility. Anthropology and Demographic Inquiry. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp.3-28.

Student Presentations:

* Bongaarts, John and Robert G. Potter 1983. Introduction and Overview, pp. 1-20 in Bongaarts, John and Robert G. Potter, Fertility, Biology, and Behavior, New York: Academic Press, 1983.

* Handwerker, W. Penn 1986. Culture and Reproduction: Exploring Micro/Macro Linkages, pp. 1-29 in Handwerker, W. Penn (ed.) Culture and Reproduction. An Anthropological Critique of Demographic Transition Theory. Boulder,CO: Westview Press, Inc.

* Simmons, Ozzie G. 1988. Links between Development Perspectives and Population Growth, pp. 91-115. In Simmons, Ozzie G. Perspectives on Development and Population Growth in the Third World. New York: Plenum Press, 1988.

* Cleland, John 1990. Fertility Decline in Developing Countries: The Roles of Economic Modernization, Culture, and Government Interventions, pp.126-145. In Landers, John and Vernon Reynolds (eds.),. Fertility and Resources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
 
 

SEPTEMBER 24         REPRODUCTIVE PATTERNS AND MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH

Required:

National Research Council, 1989. Contraception and Reproduction. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. pp. 1-97.

In Brown, Sarah S. and Leon Eisenberg (eds.) 1995. The Best Intentions.

    Chapter 1. Introduction, pp. 11-20.

    Chapter 2. Demography of Unintended Pregnancy, pp. 21-49.

    Chapter 3. Consequences of Unintended Pregnancy, pp. 50-90.
In Hatcher, et al. (eds.) Contraceptive Technology.

    Chapter 25.  Luella Klein and Felicia Stewart,  Preconception Care, pp. 623-633.

* Lazrus, Ellen S. Poor Women, Poor Outcomes: Social Class and Reproductive Health, pp.39-54. In Michaelson, Karen L. and Contributors, Childbirth in America. Anthropological Perspectives. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc.
 
 

 OCTOBER 1            CULTURE AND FERTILITY BEHAVIOR

Required:

In Brown, Sarah S. and Leon Eisenberg (eds.),  The Best Intentions.

        Chapter 6. Personal and Interpersonal Determinants of Contraceptive Use, pp.160-182.
        Chapter 7. Socioeconomic and Cultural Influences on Contraceptive Use, pp. 183-217.

In Hatcher, et al. (eds.) Contraceptive Technology.

        Chapter2.  Debra W. Haffner and William R. Stayton, Sexuality and Reproductive Health, pp. 13-42.

* Erickson, Pamela I.  1998-99.   “Cultural Factors Affecting the Negotiation of First Sexual Intercourse among Latina Adolescent Mothers,” International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 18(1): 121-137.

* Fisher, Helen 1995.  The Nature and Evolution of Romantic Love, pp.23-41.  In Jankowiak, William (ed.)  Romantic Passion. A Universal Experience?  New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

* Gagnon, John H.  1991.  The Explicit and Implicit Use of the Scripting Perspective in Sex Research, pp. 1-43 in Bancroft and Weinstein (eds.), Annual Review of Sex Research.  Society for the Scientific Study of Sex.  Mt Vernon, IA.

* Levine, Robert and Susan Scrimshaw  1983.  Effects of Culture on Fertility: Anthropological Contributions. In Bulatao and Lee (eds.), pp. 666-695.

* Miller,  Warren B.  and Lucille F. Newman (eds.)  1977.  Introduction: The Cultural Perspective, pp. 73-78.  In Miller and Newman  (eds.), The First Child and Family Formation. Chapel Hill: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

* Jankowiak, William  1995.  Introduction, pp.1-19. In Jankowiak, William (ed.)  Romantic Passion. A Universal Experience?  New York: Columbia University Press.
 
 

OCTOBER 15         TRADITIONAL FERTILITY REGULATION

Required:

Newman, Lucille F.  (ed.)  1985.  Women’s Medicine. A Cross-Cultural Study of Indigenous Fertility Regulation. (read the whole book)

* Levine, Nancy  1987.  Differential Child Care. Population and Development Review 13(2):281-304.

* Scrimshaw, Susan C.M. 1984. Infanticide in Human Populations: Societal and Individual Concerns. In Glenn Hausfater and Sarah B. Hrdy (eds.),  Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary. New York: Aldine.

* Scheper-Hughes, Nancy   19??.  Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking: Maternal Detachment and Infant Survival in a Brazilian Shantytown.  Ethos 13(4):291-317.
 
 
 

OCTOBER 22          MODERN MEDICAL FERTILITY REGULATION

Required:

In Brown, Sarah S. and Leon Eisenberg (eds.),  The Best Intentions.
Chapter 4. Patterns of Contraceptive Use, pp. 91-125.
     Chapter 5. Basic Requirements: Contraceptive Knowledge and Access, pp. 126-159.

In Hatcher, Robert K., et al.  Contraceptive Technology.
 Chapter 24.  Henry L. Gabelnick, Future Methods, pp. 615-622.
  Browse chapters on contraceptive methods with which you are unfamiliar.

* Freedman, Lynn P.  Censorship and Manipulation of Family Planning Information: An Issue of Human Rights and Women's Health, pp. 145-180 in Mann et al. (eds.), Health and Human Rights.  New York: Routledge, 1999.

* Klitsch, Michael  1995.  Still Waiting for the Contraceptive Revolution.  Family Planning Perspectives 27(6):246-253.

* Lincoln, Richard and Lisa Kaeser   1988.  Whatever Happened to the Contraceptive Revolution?  Family Planning Perspectives 20(1):20-24.

* Polgar, S. and J.F. Marshall  1976. The Search for Culturally Acceptable Fertility Regulating Methods. In Marshall and Polgar (eds.), pp. 204-218.

Student Presentations:

* John Bongaarts  Trends in Unwanted Childbearing in the Developing World.  Studies in Family Planning, 1997, 28(4): 267-277.

* Erickson, Pamela I.  "Contraceptive Methods: Do Hispanic Adolescents and Their Family Planning Care Providers Think about Contraceptive Methods the Same Way?"  Medical Anthropology 17(1): 65-82, 1996.

* Tucker, Giselle  M.  1986.  Barriers to Modern Contraceptive Use in Rural Peru.  Studies in Family Planning 17:308-316.

* Warwick D.  Culture and Management of Family Planning Programs. Studies in Family Planning 1988;19:1-18.
 
 

OCTOBER 29          ABORTION

Required:

In Hatcher, et al. (eds.) Contraceptive Technology.
    Chapter 12. Paul F.A. Van Look and Felicia Stewart, Emergency Contraception, pp. 277-296.
    Chapter 28. Willard Cates, Jr. and Charlotte Ellerston, Abortion, pp. 679-700.

Luker, Kristin  1984.  Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood.  Berkeley: University of California Press. (whole book)

* Russo, Nancy Felipe and Jean E. Denious  1998.  Why Is Abortion Such a Controversial Issue in the United States?  In Beckman and Harvey (eds.)  The New Civil War.  The Psychology,  Culture, and Politics of Abortion, pp. 25-59.

Student Presentations:

* Henshaw, Stanley K.   1990.  Induced Abortion: A world review.  Family Planning Perspectives 22(2): 76-89.

* Henshaw, Stanley K.   1998.  Abortion Incidence and Services in the United States, 1995-1996.

* Kunins, Hillary and Allan Rosenfield  1991.  Abortion: A Legal and Public Health Perspective. Annual Review of Public Health 12:361-382.
 
 

NOVEMBER 12         INFERTILITY, HIV, AND RTIs

Required:

In Hatcher, Robert A.,et al. Contraceptive Technology.
     Chapter 7.  Felicia Guest, HIV /AIDS and Reproductive Health, pp. 141-178.
     Chapter 27. Gary K. Stewart,  Impaired Fertility, pp. 653-678.
     Optional Chapter 8. Willard Cates, Jr.,  Reproductive Tract Infections, pp. 179-210.

* Auerbach, Judith D. and Thomas J. Coates   2000.  HIV Prevention Research: Accomplishments and Challenges for the Third Decade of AIDS.  American Journal of Public Health 90(7):1029-1032.

* Becker, Gay  1994.  Metaphors in Disrupted Lives: Infertility and Cultural Constructions of
Continuity.  Medical Anthropology Quarterly 8(4):383-410.

* Pliskin, Karen L.  1997.  Verbal Intercourse and Sexual Communication: Impediments to STD Prevention.  Medical Anthropology Quarterly 11(1):89-109.

* In Sobo, Elisa J.  1998. in  E.J. Sobo, Choosing Unsafe Sex.
        Women and AIDS in the United States, pp. 8-24.
        The Psychosocial Benefits of Unsafe Sex, pp. 106-139.

* Stephen, Elizabeth Hervey and Anjani  Chandra  2000.  Use of Infertility Services in the United States: 1995.  Family Planning Perspectives 32(3):132-137.

* In Tsui, Amy, et al. (eds.)  1997.  Reproductive Health in Developing Countries.
         Infection-Free Sex and Reproduction, pp. 40-84.

* Zierler, Sally and Nancy Krieger  2000.  Social Inequality and HIV Infection in Women, pp. 76-97 in Mayer and Pizer (eds.), The Emergence of AIDS. The Impact on Immunology, Microbiology, and Public Health.

Student Presentations:

* Ebin, Victoria   1994.  Interpretations of Infertility: the Aowin People of South-west Ghana, pp. 131-149.  In MacCormack (ed.), Ethnography of Fertility and Birth. Second Edition.  Prospect Heights,IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

* Coreil, Jeannine, Debora L. Barnes-Josiah, Antoine Augustin, and Michel Cayemittes   1996.   Arrested Pregnancy Syndrome in Haiti: Findings from  National Survey.  Medical Anthropology Quarterly 10(3):424-436.

* Katz, Sydney S. and Selig H. Katz   1987.  An Evaluation of Traditional Therapy for Barrenness, Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1(4):394-405.
 

NOVEMBER 19      ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY AND CHILDBEARING

Required:

In  Hatcher, et al.
     Trussell, James, Josefina J. Card, and Carol Rowland Hogue   Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, pp. 701-744.

* Alan Guttmacher Institute   1998.  Into a New World: Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Lives.  Executive Summary, pp.1-13.

* Studies in Family Planning: Adolescent Reproductive Behavior in the Developing World.

    Bongaarts, John and Barney Cohen   1998.. Introduction and Overview. Studies in Family Planning, 29(2):99-105.

     Blanc, Ann K. and Ann A. Way  1998.  Sexual Behavior, Contraceptive Knowledge and Use.  Studies in Family Planning, 29(2):117-135.

     Caldwell, John C., Pat Caldwell, Bruce K. Caldwell, and Indrani Pieris  1998.  Construction of Adolescence in a Changing World: Implications for Sexuality,
        Reproduction, and Marriage. Studies in Family Planning, 29(2):137-153.

    Singh, Susheela  1998.  Adolescent Childbearing in Developing Countries: A Global Review. Studies in Family Planning, 29(2):99-105

*  Erickson, Pamela I.  1998.  Culture, Norms and Adolescent Childbearing, pp. 9-34 in Erickson,  Latino Adolescent Childbearing in East Los Angeles.

* Irvine, Janice M.  1994.  Cultural Differences and Adolescent Sexualities, pp. 3-28, in Irvine, Janice M. (ed.)  1994.  Sexual Cultures and the Construction of Adolescent Identities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

* Luker, Kristin 1996.  Why Do They Do It?,  pp.134-174, in Luker, Kristin   Dubious Conceptions.  The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

* Konner, Melvin and Majorie Shostak  1986.  Adolescent Pregnancy and Childbearing: An Anthropological Perspective, pp. 325-345, in Lancaster,  Jane B. and Beatrix A. Hamburg (eds.), School-age Pregnancy and Parenthood.  Biosocial Dimensions.  New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
 

 Student Presentations:

* Henshaw, Stanley and Dina J. Feivelson   2000.  Teenage Abortion and Pregnancy Statistics by State, 1996.   Family Planning Perspectives 32(6):272-280.

* Hogan, Dennis P., Rongjun Sun, and Gretchen T. Cornwell   2000.  Sexual and Fertility Behaviors of American Females Aged 15-19 Years: 1985, 1990, and 1995.  AJPH 90(9):1421-1425.

* Lerman, Robert I.  1993.  A National Profile of Young Unwed Fathers, pp. 27-51, Chapter 2. In Lerman, Robert I. and Theodora Ooms (eds.)  Young Unwed Fathers.  Changing Roles and Emerging Policies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993.

* Manlove, Jennifer, et al.  2000.  Explaining Demographic Trends in Teenage Fertility, 1980-1995.  Family Planning Perspectives 32(4):166-175.

* Singh, Susheela and Jacqueline E. Darroch  2000.  Adolescent Pregnancy and Childbearing: Levels and Trends in Developed Countries.  Family Planning Perspectives 32(1):14-23.

* Santelli, John S., et al.  2000.   Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Estimates and Trends from Four Nationally Representative Surveys.  Family Planning Perspectives 32(4):156-165, 194.
 
 

NOVEMBER 26         PERINATAL PRACTICES - CULTURAL PRACTICES
                                      POSTPARTUM AND INFANT FEEDING

Required:

In Hatcher, Robert A.,et al. Contraceptive Technology.
 Chapter 23.Kathy I. Kennedy and James Trussell,  Postpartum Contraception and
 Lactation, pp. 589-614.

Jordan, Brigitte  1993.  Birth in Four Cultures.  A Cross-cultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States.  Fourth Edition.  Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc. (whole book)

*  Ford, Clellan Stearns   1964. Comparative Study of Human Reproduction.  Yale University Publications in Anthropology Number 32.  New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press.
Introduction, pp. 7-8; Pregnancy, pp. 43-54 ; Childbirth, pp. 55-74.

* Kay, Margarita A.  1982.  Writing an Ethnography of Birth, Chapter 1, pp. 1-24.  In Kay, Margarita   1982.  The Anthropology of Human Birth. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Co.

* Mead, Margaret and Niles Newton  1965.  The Cultural Patterning of Perinatal Behavior.  In Richardson and Guttmacher (eds.)  Childbearing: Its Social and Psychological Aspects.   Balltimore: William and Wilkins Co.

Student Presentations:

* Michaelson 1988, Section IV. Becoming a Parent, pp. 211-215 and Bringing up Baby: Expectation and Reality in the Early Postpartum, pp. 252-269.  In Michaelson, Karen  L. and Contributors, Childbirth in America. Anthropological Perspectives.  South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, Inc.

* In Van Esterik, Penny  1989.  Beyond the Breast-Bottle Controversy.
Chapter 1. Introducing the Controversy, pp. 3-27.
Chapter 2. Poverty Environments, pp. 31-63.
      Chapter 3.  Infant Feeding and the Empowerment of Women, pp. 67-107.

Recommended:  a readable, understandable medical introduction

* Sloane, Ethel  1985.  Pregnancy, Labor, and Delivery, Chapter 10, pp. 294-387.  In  Sloane, Ethel, Biology of Women. Second Edition.Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers.
 
 

DECEMBER 3          PERINATAL PRACTICES - BIRTH TECHNOLOGY

Required:

Arma, Suzanne  1996.  Immaculate Deception II.  Myth, Magic, and Birth. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.
     Women, Childbirth, and the History of Medicine, pp. 29-64.
     Hospitals and Birth, pp. 63-109.

* Davis-Floyd, Robbie  1992.  Birth as an American Rite of Passage.  Berkeley: University of California Press.
     The Technocratic Model, pp. 44-72.
     Birth Messages, pp.73-153.

* Helena Ragoné and Sharla K. Willis   Reproduction and Assisted Reproductive Technologies, pp. 308-322 in Albrecht, et al. (eds.) Handbook of Social Studies in Health and Medicine, 2000.

*  Rapp, Rayna  The Power of "Positive" Diagnosis: Medical and Maternal Discourses on Amniocentesis, pp. 103-116.  In  Michaelson, Karen  L. 1988. Childbirth in America. Anthropological Perspectives. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey.

Student Presentations:

*  Clarke, Adele E. and Virginia Olsen (eds.)  1999. Revisioning Women, Health, and Healing.  New York: Routledge.

        Traweek, Sharon    Warning Signs, pp. 187-201.

        Balsamo, Anne   Public Pregnancies and Cultural Narratives of Surveillance, pp. 231-253.

        Collins, Patricia Hill  Will the Real Mother Please Stand Up?, pp. 266-282
 

DECEMBER 10          MIDWIVES

* In  Rooks, Judith P.  1997.  Midwifery and Childbirth in America.  Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

         What is Midwifery?, pp. 1-10.

         Brief History of Midwifery in the West, pp. 11- 33.

         The Current Situation and Recommendations for the Futire, pp.447-497.

*  In  Koop, C. Everett, Clarence E. Pearson, and M. Roy Schwarz (eds.)   2001.  Critical Issues in Global Health.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

         Judith Rooks and Ruth Watson Lubic, Midwifery, pp. 203-211.
 

DECEMBER 17         PAPER PRESENTATIONS