Biotechnologies and Reproductive Agency: An Ethnography of Solo Motherhood in Spain and the United Kingdom

As artificial reproductive technologies become available to populations that have previously not had access to them, this book asks how reproduction is being transformed by technologies and individuals whose sexual and reproductive lives may defy sociocultural norms, religious codes and national laws. Seeking to develop a novel approach for studying the families of the 21st century, it examines the uptake of assisted reproductive technologies by women who opt for lone motherhood, exploring the circulation of reproductive technologies, bodily material, and ideas in two countries recognised as leaders in ART and sexual and reproductive health rights. Through ethnographic research in Spain and the UK, it considers the localisation of assisted reproductive technologies and the ways in which the socio-cultural, politico-legal and ideological intersections between non-normative families and ARTs shape the experiences of those who take them up. A multi-sited ethnography that explores the implementation, use and experience of assisted reproductive technologies, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, gender studies and science and technology studies.

Ana Bravo-Moreno is the principal investigator of an ERC Advanced Grant at the National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain, and a tenured professor in social anthropology. She has been a research fellow at the IoE-University College of London (UCL), and a principal researcher at the Institute of Migration Studies, Comillas University in Madrid, and at the University of Granada. Over the years, she has been granted funding for her research from the Marie S. Curie Actions (H2020), Next Generation, Programa Ramón y Cajal, Plan Nacional I+D and AECID among others. Her PhD was awarded by the Institute of Education (IoE), University of London, with funding from the Economic & Social Research Council, UK. Prior to that, she earned an MSc in social anthropology from UCL, participated as an Erasmus student in the MA in Women’s Studies at the IoE, and holds a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from the Autonomous University in Madrid. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of California Irvine, UC-Berkeley, Brown University and Florida International University and has taught at the Open University and City University in London. Her research has focused on assisted reproductive technologies, new family forms, reproductive health, international migration and education.