Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reproductive Subjectivity in the Context of Displacement

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

The universal human process of reproduction is imbued with diverse religious, social, and cultural meanings. The interactions, negotiations, and contestations that surround reproductive decisions are a rich source of ethnographic data that speaks to the most intimate aspects of experience, not only in terms of gender roles, marriage, family, and kinship but also in relation to foundational notions of self, personhood, and meaning. Studying reproduction thus reveals many of the fundamental cultural models and interpretive frameworks that individuals use to define what constitutes a good life and strive towards it. Social scientific research on war and displacement has shown how these experiences can transform the cultural frameworks through which individuals interpret and remake their worlds, form novel subjectivities, or cultivate new desires. This project, which trains a graduate student in scientific methods of rigorous data collection and analysis, explores a specific intersection of two domains of human experience: the nearly universal experience of reproduction and the increasingly widespread condition of displacement. Morgen Chalmiers, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Csordas of the University of California at San Diego, will explore what factors influence reproductive practices in the context of displacement. It has been well documented that displacement can influence the reproductive experience by disrupting the social and familial networks through which reproductive life is facilitated and made meaningful. But other research has shown that displacement can have a paradoxical effect on fertility patterns, as precarity creates a desire to rebuild kinship and social networks. In seeking to understand in what ways precarity may shape subjectivity, this project examines the context of Syrian displacement, where since the civil war began in 2011, five and a half million Syrians have fled their home country and are now living as refugees. This project explores the intersubjective processes through which Syrian women reconcile histories of trauma and violence with the human imperative to create new meaning in disrupted lives. Over 12 months of ethnographic and person-centered, qualitative interviews fieldwork with displaced Syrian families living in Jordan, this project will ask how reproductive desires and practices are reshaped by the context of displacement. Research at such a junction reveals the creative ways in which individuals cope with the challenges of displacement despite loss and adversity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.