Dissertation Research: Conceptions of the Fetus in Haitian Immigrant Culture

论文研究--海地移民文化中的胎儿概念项目摘要：最近的联邦立法改变了胎儿现在被视为权利持有者和具有国家身份的人的情况。这些变化迫使我们的国家通过承认胎儿的个人权利来保护我们的未出生婴儿。探索胎儿成为权利拥有者的影响的大部分工作都集中在妇女对自己身体的控制或堕胎政治的问题上。然而，妇女只是泛泛地想象；妇女之间的差异可能会影响这些问题的影响，但尚未进行批判性审查。例如，很少有工作探讨这些发展对法律地位不确定的有色人种怀孕移民妇女意味着什么这一重要问题。这篇论文的研究将探索常规医疗程序和最近的法律倡议如何塑造海地妇女在美国根据胎儿想象和重新定义权利、国家身份和公民身份的方式。这项工作将使用人种学数据--在南佛罗里达州的诊所和社区环境中进行参与者观察，并收集海地妇女围绕她们在产前护理方面的经历的叙述。此外，这项工作将植根于他们先前存在的生殖和母性概念，从而探索社会和生物生殖的相互交织。该项目将使用“胎儿体位”的概念(Casper，1994)，即注意到胎儿的构造、使用或表现的多种方式，以及与这些体位相关的多个行为者，将人种学数据与当前的立法和媒体结合起来，并提出胎儿是权利拥有者和具有国家身份的人这一概念。项目的智力价值和更广泛的影响这项研究增加了与新技术(在这种情况下，是产前护理和生殖成像)的采用和使用以及国家界定权利人的能力有关的理论和实践问题。尽管一位妇女人类学家已经开始研究跨文化背景下胎儿人格的构建，但这个项目询问移民如何协商不同的胎儿概念，以及这些不同的想法如何影响他们在产前护理方面的经历。虽然这个项目解决了关于生殖和身份认同的更大的理论问题，但科学和技术研究最有益的方面之一是它参与更大的政治问题的能力。在美国人关心“保护新生命”的时候，这对女性权利以及女性怀孕经历的影响变得越来越重要。此外，随着海地人继续涌入美国，他们在美国的生存继续受到高度质疑。通过调查下一代海地裔美国人的(翻拍)作品，我们可以开始了解当前生殖政治和移民身份的问题是如何通过“胎儿姿势”来探索的。

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."