Dissertation Research: Conceptions of the Fetus in Haitian Immigrant Culture

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Dissertation Research- Conceptions of the Fetus in Haitian Immigrant CultureProject Summary:Recent federal legislation has resulted in changes by which fetuses are now considered rights holders and persons with national identities. Those changes compel our nation to protect our unborn through the recognition of individualrights for the fetus. Most of the work exploring the implications of the emergence of fetuses as rights holders has focusedon isues of women's control over their bodies or abortion politics. Women, however, are imagined generically; the differences among women which could shape the impact of these issues have not yet been critically examined. For example, very little work has exploredthe important question of what these developments mean for pregnant immigrant women of color with uncertain legal status. This dissertation research will explore how routinemedical procedures and recent legal initiatives shape the way Haitian women giving birthin the United States imagine and redefine rights, national identities, and citizenship in lightof the fetus. This work will use ethnographic data-participant observation in clinics andcommunity settings in South Florida and the collection of Haitian women's narrativesaround their experiences in prenatal care. In addition, this work will be grounded withintheir pre-existing notions of reproduction and motherhood, and therefore explore theintertwining of social and biological reproduction. This project will use the comncept of "fetal positions" (Casper 1994), that is, being mindful of the many ways in which the fetus isconstructed, used or represented, as well as the multiple actors associated with thesepositions as a means to incorporate ethnographic data with current legislative and mediarepresentations of the idea of fetuses as rights holders and persons with national identity. Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact of ProjectThis research adds to the theoretical and practical issues which have to do with theadoption and utilization of new technologies (in this case, prenatal care and reproductiveimaging) and the state's ability to define rights holders . Although a fewanthropologists have begun to investigate the construction of fetal personhood in crosscultural contexts, this project inquires how immigrants negotiate differing conceptions of the fetus, and consequently, how these alternative ideas affect their experiences in prenatal care. Although this project addresses larger theoretical issuesaround reproduction and identity, one of the most beneficial aspects of science andtechnology research is its ability to engage larger political issues. At a time when Americans areconcerned with "protecting new life," the impact on women's rights as well as women's experiences inpregnancy have become increasingly important. In addition, as Haitians continue to stream into the United States, their existence in America continues to be highly contested. By investigating the (re)production of the next Haitian-American generation, we can begin tosee how current issues in reproductive politics and immigrant identity can be explored through "fetal positions."