Main description:

Miscarriage is a significant women's health issue. Research has consistently shown that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. This collected volume explores miscarriage in diverse historical and cultural settings with contributions from anthropologists, historians and medical professionals. Contributors use rich ethnographic and historical material to discuss how pregnancy loss is managed and negotiated in a range of societies. The book considers meanings attached to miscarriage and how religious, cultural, medical and legal forces impact the way miscarriage is experienced and perceived.

Contents:

Introduction: Ambiguities and Navigations

Susie Kilshaw

Chapter 1. Does Twenty-First-Century Technology Change the Experience of Early Pregnancy and Miscarriage?

Pedro Melo and Ingrid Granne

Chapter 2. The Meanings of Miscarriage in Twentieth-Century Britain

Rosemary Elliot

Chapter 3. Alleviating the Ambiguities Around Miscarriage: Discursive Tactics in Cameroon and Romania

Erica van der Sijpt

Chapter 4. Some Babies Cannot be Stopped from Falling: Miscarriage in Pakistani Punjab

Kaveri Qureshi

Chapter 5. God's Design; Thwarted Plans: Women's Experience of Miscarriage in Qatar and England

Susie Kilshaw

Chapter 6. 'It Felt like the Longest Time of my Life': Using Foetal Dopplers at Home to Manage Anxiety about Miscarriage

Aimee Middlemiss

Chapter 7. Miscarriages and its Resulting Losses during Commercial Surrogacy in India

Sayani Mitra

Chapter 8. Unwitnessed Ceremonies: Funeral Services for Pre-24-Week Pregnancy Losses in England

Karolina Kuberska

Conclusions

Susie Kilshaw

Index