Sociopolitical implications of women's reproductive bodies have been subject to historical scrutiny over the decades since the second wave of feminism and since Foucault provided the notion of biopower. Yet over the last decade, additional—and exciting—scholarship has emerged that encourages historians to reappraise the significance of reproductive bodies in terms of political economy and international diplomacy. These works have aptly characterized how cultural and political elites, including population scientists and medics specializing in human reproduction, understood reproduction as consisting of the problematics of its aggregate form, namely, population. They also have pointed out the transnational aspect within the politics of reproduction, precisely because the problem of population dovetails with issues that straddle national borders, such as food, land, resources, security, and migration. These works have also identified how Asia's “overpopulation” has surfaced as a contested theme in international politics during the...
Ajia No Shussan to Kazoku Keikaku—“umu, Umanai, Umenai” Shintai Wo Meguru Seiji アジアの出産と家族計画—「産む・産まない・産めない」身体をめぐる政治 [Childbirth and Family Planning in Asia: The Politics of Women's Reproductive Bodies]
Aya Homei is a lecturer at the School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures at the University of Manchester. She is the coauthor of Fungal Disease in Britain and the United States 1850–2000 (with Michael Worboys, 2013). She has also worked on the history of midwifery in Japan and is currently working on the project “Family Planning, Health Promotion, and Global Medicine, 1945–1995: The Activities of Japanese Health Campaigners around the World,” funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Aya Homei; Ajia No Shussan to Kazoku Keikaku—“umu, Umanai, Umenai” Shintai Wo Meguru Seiji アジアの出産と家族計画—「産む・産まない・産めない」身体をめぐる政治 [Childbirth and Family Planning in Asia: The Politics of Women's Reproductive Bodies]. East Asian Science, Technology and Society 1 December 2016; 10 (4): 481–483. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/18752160-2889427
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