In the Arab World, motherhood is glorified, childlessness is socially unacceptable, and adoption is religiously prohibited. Local Babies, Global Science examines in vitro fertilization (IVF) among affluent couples in Egypt, and the implicatioins for both local Egyptians and global society. Inhorn’s work shows the transfer of IVF technology from Europe and America to Egypt reshapes the use of this science and leads to new cultural formations in Egypt. This book also offers a fascinating, eye-opening analysis of how Egyptians view the West – a timely contribution to the current conversation about the modern Islamic world.
Book Reviews
Marcia Inhorn’s fascinating and humane analysis shows us how the specificity of Islamic values, Egyptian class and patriarchal relations, and Middle Eastern medical and scientific networks combine to produce a new framework for high-tech reproduction. Beautifully written, this book demonstrates the potency and power of combining feminist critique with medical anthropology and science studies. It will take its place among the classic analyses of the politics of reproduction.
–Rayna Rapp, author of Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America
Clear and beautifully written.the scholarship is impeccable.a page turner. Local Babies, Global Science provides a birds-eye-view of the ‘global elite,’ how they function and think about the new reproductive technologies, and the actions they take. The incisive analysis of how Egyptians view the West, especially in the U.S., and how they view these technologies as practiced in their homeland and abroad is fascinating.
–Gay Becker, author of The Elusive Embryo: How Men and Women Approach New Reproductive Technologies
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