Contingent lives
Bledsoe, Caroline H.
Contingent lives fertility, time, and aging in West Africa / [electronic resource] : Caroline H. Bledsoe with contributions by Fatoumatta Banja ; foreword by Anthony T. Carter. - University of Chicago Press, 2002. - 1 online resource (xx, 396 p.) : ill. - The Lewis Henry Morgan lectures ; 1999 . - Lewis Henry Morgan lectures ; 1999. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-383) and index.
Foreword; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Reproductive Tolls and Temporalities in Studies of Reproduction; 3. Setting, Data, and Methods; 4. Managing the Birth Interval: Child Spacing; 5. Disjunctures and Anomalies: Deconstructing Child Spacing; 6. Realizing a Reproductive Endowment in a Contingent Body; 7. Time-Neutral Reproduction, Time-Neutral Aging; 8. Reaping the Rewards of Reproduction: Morality, Retirement, and Repletion; 9. Discovering Our Habitus: Contingency and Linearity in Western Obstetric Observations; 10. Rethinking Fertility, Time, and Aging; Appendixes; Glossary.
Most women in the West use contraceptives in order to avoid having children. But in rural Gambia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, many women use contraceptives for the opposite reason--to have as many children as possible. Using ethnographic and demographic data from a three-year study in rural Gambia, Contingent Lives explains this seemingly counterintuitive fact by juxtaposing two very different understandings of the life course: one is a linear, Western model that equates aging and the ability to reproduce with the passage of time, the other a Gambian model that views aging as continge.
9780226058504 (electronic bk.) 0226058506 (electronic bk.)
Birth control--Gambia.
Family size--Gambia.
Fertility, Human--Social aspects--Gambia.
Reproduction--Gambia.
Family Planning Services--Gambia.
Social Science.
Régulation des naissances--Gambie.
Famille--Dimension--Gambie.
Fécondité humaine--Aspect social--Gambie.
SOCIAL SCIENCE--Abortion & Birth Control.
Anticonceptie.
Vruchtbaarheid.
Gezinsgrootte.
Sociale aspecten.
Geburtenregelung.
Gambia.
Electronic books.
HQ766.5.G25 / B54 2002eb
363.9/6/096651
2002 G-987 WQ 205 / B646c 2002
Contingent lives fertility, time, and aging in West Africa / [electronic resource] : Caroline H. Bledsoe with contributions by Fatoumatta Banja ; foreword by Anthony T. Carter. - University of Chicago Press, 2002. - 1 online resource (xx, 396 p.) : ill. - The Lewis Henry Morgan lectures ; 1999 . - Lewis Henry Morgan lectures ; 1999. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-383) and index.
Foreword; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Reproductive Tolls and Temporalities in Studies of Reproduction; 3. Setting, Data, and Methods; 4. Managing the Birth Interval: Child Spacing; 5. Disjunctures and Anomalies: Deconstructing Child Spacing; 6. Realizing a Reproductive Endowment in a Contingent Body; 7. Time-Neutral Reproduction, Time-Neutral Aging; 8. Reaping the Rewards of Reproduction: Morality, Retirement, and Repletion; 9. Discovering Our Habitus: Contingency and Linearity in Western Obstetric Observations; 10. Rethinking Fertility, Time, and Aging; Appendixes; Glossary.
Most women in the West use contraceptives in order to avoid having children. But in rural Gambia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, many women use contraceptives for the opposite reason--to have as many children as possible. Using ethnographic and demographic data from a three-year study in rural Gambia, Contingent Lives explains this seemingly counterintuitive fact by juxtaposing two very different understandings of the life course: one is a linear, Western model that equates aging and the ability to reproduce with the passage of time, the other a Gambian model that views aging as continge.
9780226058504 (electronic bk.) 0226058506 (electronic bk.)
Birth control--Gambia.
Family size--Gambia.
Fertility, Human--Social aspects--Gambia.
Reproduction--Gambia.
Family Planning Services--Gambia.
Social Science.
Régulation des naissances--Gambie.
Famille--Dimension--Gambie.
Fécondité humaine--Aspect social--Gambie.
SOCIAL SCIENCE--Abortion & Birth Control.
Anticonceptie.
Vruchtbaarheid.
Gezinsgrootte.
Sociale aspecten.
Geburtenregelung.
Gambia.
Electronic books.
HQ766.5.G25 / B54 2002eb
363.9/6/096651
2002 G-987 WQ 205 / B646c 2002