Understanding Reproductive Loss: Perspectives on Life, Death and Fertility

The study of human reproduction has focused on reproductive ’success’ and on the struggle to achieve this, rather than on the much more common experience of ’failure’, or reproductive loss. Drawing on the latest research from The UK and Europe, The United States, Australia and Africa, this volume examines the experience of reproductive loss in its widest sense to include termination of pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, perinatal and infant death, as well as - more broadly - the loss of desired normative experiences such as that associated with infertility, assisted reproduction and the medicalisation of 'high risk' pregnancy and birth. Exploring the commonalities, as well as issues of difference and diversity, Understanding Reproductive Loss presents international work from a variety of multi-disciplinary perspectives and will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists with interests in medicine, health, the body, death studies and gender.

Sarah Earle is Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at The Open University, UK; Carol Komaromy is Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at The Open University, UK and Linda Layne is Hale Professor of Humanities and Social Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA.