Pregnancy in Practice: Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary US

"This book will be central to further discussions in the field of reproduction and birth. It is of interest to students and scholars more broadly in economic and medical Anthropology and in the sociology of the family." · Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale

"The author takes an insightful look at an understudied phenomenon: that of ordinary pregnancy. She rightly notes that much scholarship has documented birth and the medicalization of pregnancy. Not enough attention has been paid to the mundane aspects of pregnancy. While an analysis of the quotidian might seem boring, it is when scholars problematize the everyday (the things we take for granted) that new insights are revealed." · Miranda Waggoner, Princeton University

Babies are not simply born-they are made through cultural and social practices. Based on rich empirical work, this book examines the everyday experiences that mark pregnancy in the US today, such as reading pregnancy advice books, showing ultrasound "baby pictures" to friends and co-workers, and decorating the nursery in anticipation of the new arrival. These ordinary practices of pregnancy, the author argues, are significant and revealing creative activities that produce babies. They are the activities through which babies are made important and meaningful in the lives of the women and men awaiting the child's birth. This book brings into focus a topic that has been overlooked in the scholarship on reproduction and will be of interest to professionals and expectant parents alike.

Sallie Han is Associate Professor of Anthropology at SUNY College at Oneonta.