Conceiving Cuba

Reproduction, Women, and the State in the Post-Soviet Era

By: Elise Andaya

Write A Review

Hardcover | 30 May 2014

At a Glance

Hardcover
192 Pages

Age
18+

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8

Hardcover

$292.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $73.19 with

Ships in 15 to 25 business days

Received an Honorable Mention for the 2015 First Michelle Rosaldo Prize for a First Book in Feminist Anthropology from the Association for Feminist Anthropology

Winner of the Adele E. Clarke Book Award from ReproNetwork?

After Cuba's 1959 revolution, the Castro government sought to instill a new social order. Hoping to achieve a new and egalitarian society, the state invested in policies designed to promote the well-being of women and children. Yet once the Soviet Union fell and Cuba's economic troubles worsened, these programs began to collapse, with serious results for Cuban families.

Conceiving Cuba offers an intimate look at how, with the island's political and economic future in question, reproduction has become the subject of heated public debates and agonizing private decisions. Drawing from several years of first-hand observations and interviews, anthropologist Elise Andaya takes us inside Cuba's households and medical systems. Along the way, she introduces us to the women who wrestle with the difficult question of whether they can afford a child, as well as the doctors who, with only meager resources at their disposal, struggle to balance the needs of their patients with the mandates of the state.

Andaya's groundbreaking research considers not only how socialist policies have profoundly affected the ways Cuban families imagine the future, but also how the current crisis in reproduction has deeply influenced ordinary Cubans' views on socialism and the future of the revolution. Casting a sympathetic eye upon a troubled state, Conceiving Cuba gives new life to the notion that the personal is always political.

Industry Reviews

"Andaya reveals the complex entanglement of women's reproductive choices, healthcare practices, and the state's agenda to reshape gender ideologies. This rich ethnography will appeal to regional specialists, and to scholars of gender, reproduction, post-socialism, and social change."

-- Nadine Fernandez * author of Revolutionizing Romance: Interracial Couples in Contemporary Cuba *

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.