BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Whose Biological Clock? Temporal Inevitability and Assisted Reprod
 uction in Contemporary India - Anindita Majumdar\, Indian Institute of Tec
 hnology Hyderabad
DTSTART:20191205T173000Z
DTEND:20191205T190000Z
UID:TALK135400@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Chantal Nowak
DESCRIPTION:The relation between time and ageing defines the increasingly 
 influential concept of the biological clock. This conceptualization is esp
 ecially potent in relation to the reproductive body\, and its expected\, i
 nevitable decline. Imagined as a ‘curse’\, the ticking clock operates 
 both as a metaphor and a tour de force in assisted reproduction in India.\
 n\nIn this endeavor\, I am interested in seeking out the meanings of age a
 nd ageing as they come to be understood within reproduction in India. The 
 focus is particularly on assisted conception\, and the use of assisted rep
 roductive technologies (ART) such as in-vitro fertilization to engage with
  the issue of reproductive temporality.\n\nWhat forms of socio-medical ima
 ginings influence this form of temporality? Can time and age be seen beyon
 d the life cycle to understand how particular technologies  are used to 
 ‘reconfigure’ it?\n\nThe linkages between ageing and infertility-ferti
 lity become more marked in the infertility clinic where the diagnostic pro
 tocols and treatment offer desired routes to parenthood according to the d
 emands of social and moral judgements. In addition\, rural-urban differenc
 es\, gendered expectations of familial roles and rules\, and lived environ
 ments and lifestyles have a huge impact on the use and dissemination of as
 sisted reproductive technologies in India.\n\nThus\, in the city of Hydera
 bad in South India\, where I did my fieldwork\, clinicians encourage women
  to choose parenthood over professional goals in order to subvert the inev
 itable biological clock. This means that the lifestyle associated with wor
 king in the highly competitive and demanding information technology indust
 ry\, to which many of respondents belonged\, came under harsh scrutiny. On
  the other hand\, rising cases of infertility in rural North India led IVF
  specialists and patients to engage in the subversion of ideas regarding a
 ged parenthood and expected social roles linked to the life cycle.\n\nYet\
 , infertility and the associated use of assisted reproductive technologies
  began to resemble a road to inevitability. In India where pronatalism co-
 exists with the overwhelming pressure towards population control\, what me
 aning does the desire for children born through assisted reproduction carr
 y?  It is to these dilemmas that I turn to in conceptualizing the curse of
  the biological clock in its temporal inevitability. 
LOCATION:The Pitt Building Trumpington Street CB2 1RP
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR