Main description:

As a biological, cultural, and social entity, the human fetus is a multifaceted subject which calls for equally diverse perspectives to fully understand. Anthropology of the Fetus seeks to achieve this by bringing together specialists in biological anthropology, archaeology, and cultural anthropology. Contributors draw on research in prehistoric, historic, and contemporary sites in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America to explore the biological and cultural phenomenon of the fetus, raising methodological and theoretical concerns with the ultimate goal of developing a holistic anthropology of the fetus.

Contents:

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Foreword: How/Shall We Consider the Fetus?

Rayna Rapp

Introduction: Conceiving the Anthropology of the Fetus: An Introduction

Sallie Han, Tracy K. Betsinger, and Amy B. Scott

PART I: THE FETUS IN BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

Chapter 1. The Borderless Fetus: Temporal Complexity of the Lived Fetal Experience

Julienne Rutherford

Chapter 2. The Biology of the Fetal Period: Interpreting Life from Fetal Skeletal Remains

Kathleen Ann Satterlee Blake

Chapter 3. Pregnant with Ideas: Concepts of the Fetus in the Twenty-First Century United States

Sallie Han

PART II: FINDING FETUSES IN THE PAST: ARCHAEOLOGY AND BIOARCHAEOLOGY

Chapter 4. The Bioarchaeology of Fetuses

Sian E. Halcrow, Nancy Tayles, and Gail E. Elliott

Chapter 5. Fetal Paleopathology: An Impossible Discipline?

Mary E. Lewis

Chapter 6. The Neolithic Infant Cemetery at Gebel Ramlah in Egypt's Western Desert

Jacek Kabacinski, Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, and Joel D. Irish

Chapter 7. Excavating Identity: Burial Context and Fetal Identity in Post-Medieval Poland

Amy B. Scott and Tracy K. Betsinger

PART III: THE ONCE AND FUTURE FETUS: SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Chapter 8. Waiting: The Redemption of Frozen Embryos through Embryo Adoption and Stem Cell Research in the United States

Risa D. Cromer

Chapter 9. Deploying the Fetus: Constructing Pregnancy and Abortion in Morocco

Jessica Marie Newman

Chapter 10. Beyond Life Itself: The Embedded Fetuses of Russian Orthodox Anti-Abortion Activism

Sonja Luehrmann

Chapter 11. The "Sound" of Life: Or How Should We Hear a Fetal "Voice"?

Rebecca Howes-Mischel

Conclusion

Tracy K. Betsinger, Amy B. Scott, and Sallie Han

Glossary

Index