Undoing Motherhood: How IVF Breeds ‘New’ Mothers
Undoing Motherhood: How IVF Breeds ‘New’ Mothers

Summary/Abstract: The following article addresses the gender norms inscribed in the institution of motherhood through biological construction. Using the anthropological scholarship on processual kinship, we aim to outline how kin formation and performance defy the a priori biological imperative. Focusing on how the in vitro fertilization (IVF) method, as assisted reproductive technology (ART), recombines biological and social identities, we intend to discuss the new premises that the institution of motherhood can attain after the deconstruction of the events that establish motherhood as a patriarchal source of subjugation. Using a feminist perspective and a generous body of ethnographic research concerned with IVF experiences of women, we deploy the reconceptualization of motherhood in the new era of advanced technologies and re-established gendered roles and expectations.

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