Doctoral Dissertation Research: Technologically-Assisted Later Motherhood in Israel

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University of Virginia doctoral student Jennie C. Doberne, supervised by Dr. Susan McKinnon, will undertake research on how technologically-assisted later motherhood, which is increasingly common in many countries, affects commonly accepted understandings of family, generation, science, and nation. The research will be carried out in Israel, where female citizens have unparalleled access to assisted reproductive technologies enabling pregnancy at advanced (40-51 years) maternal age.Doberne will conduct twelve months of ethnographic research in Tel Aviv, the hub of Israeli fertility medicine. Data collection will include participant observation in a fertility clinic and a hospital maternity unit; semi-structured interviews with patients, medical practitioners and relevant professionals; direct observations of medical conferences and online patient support groups; and analysis of popular representations of reproduction in media and other public sources. This research examines the changing intersections of gender, technology, family, and aging, a site of emerging public health issues as women in many countries delay childbearing. By focusing particularly on later motherhood, this study will elucidate the wider effects of assisted reproductive technologies on such culturally-specific concepts of kinship and family. The researcher also will examine how accepting risk for pronatalist goals affects the meaning of technology in the context of nation-building.Finally, funding this research supports the training of a social scientist.