Haunting Images: A Cultural Account of Selective Reproduction in Vietnam

by Tine M Gammeltoft

Based on years of careful ethnographic fieldwork in Hanoi, Haunting Images offers a frank and compassionate account of the moral quandaries that accompany innovations in biomedical technology. At the center of the book are case studies of thirty pregnant women whose fetuses were labeled “abnormal” after an ultrasound examination. By following these women and their relatives through painful processes of reproductive decision making, Tine M. Gammeltoft offers intimate ethnographic insights into everyday life in contemporary Vietnam and a sophisticated theoretical exploration of how subjectivities are forged in the face of moral assessments and demands.

Across the globe, ultrasonography and other technologies for prenatal screening offer prospective parents new information and present them with agonizing decisions never faced in the past. For anthropologists, this diagnostic capability raises important questions about individuality and collectivity, responsibility and choice. Arguing for more sustained anthropological attention to human quests for belonging, Haunting Images addresses existential questions of love and loss that concern us all.

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

another book for my anthropology class. this was a really fascinating read in the midst of the “reproductive autonomy” discussions happening in the US. gammeltoft spent a lot of time researching the political and military history of vietnam, beyond her own fieldwork, which is essential. the language is quite cerebral and inaccessible at times though

[versarbre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical contemporary ethnography