Dissertation Research: Conceptions of the Fetus in Haitian Immigrant Culture

论文研究-海地移民文化中胎儿的概念项目摘要：最近的联邦立法导致了胎儿现在被认为是权利持有人和具有民族身份的人的变化。 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未出生的胎儿。大多数探索胎儿作为权利持有者出现的影响的工作都集中在妇女对自己身体的控制或堕胎政治的影响上。然而，妇女是一般性的想象;妇女之间的差异可能会影响这些问题的影响，尚未得到严格审查。例如，很少有工作探讨了这些发展对法律的地位不确定的有色人种怀孕移民妇女意味着什么的重要问题。 本论文的研究将探讨医疗程序和最近的法律的举措如何塑造海地妇女分娩的方式在美国想象和重新定义的权利，民族身份和公民权，在光的胎儿。这项工作将使用民族志数据-参与者观察南佛罗里达的诊所和社区设置和收集海地妇女的叙述围绕他们的经验，在产前护理。此外，这项工作将植根于他们先前存在的生殖和母性的概念，因此探索社会和生物生殖的交织。这个项目将使用“胎儿位置”的概念（Casper 1994），也就是说，注意到胎儿被构造、使用或表现的多种方式，以及与这些位置相关的多个参与者，作为一种手段，将民族志数据与当前的立法和媒体呈现的胎儿作为权利持有者和具有民族身份的人的想法相结合。智力价值和项目的更广泛影响这项研究增加了理论和实践问题，这些问题与新技术的采用和利用（在这种情况下，产前护理和生殖成像）以及国家定义权利人的能力有关。虽然一些人类学家已经开始研究跨文化背景下胎儿人格的构建，但本项目探讨移民如何协商胎儿的不同概念，以及这些不同的想法如何影响他们在产前护理方面的经验。虽然这个项目解决了更大的理论问题，围绕生殖和身份，科学和技术研究的最有益的方面之一是它能够参与更大的政治问题。在美国人关心“保护新生命”的时候，对妇女权利的影响以及妇女怀孕的经历变得越来越重要。此外，随着海地人继续涌入美国，他们在美国的存在继续受到高度质疑。通过调查下一代海地裔美国人的（再）生产，我们可以开始看到如何在生殖政治和移民身份的当前问题可以通过“胎儿的立场”进行探讨。"

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."