The 2024 edition of the biannual EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) conference, “Doing and Undoing Anthropology,” took place in Barcelona from July 23 to 26, 2024. This year, the conference also featured an online format the week prior, with various panels allowing participation from people all over the world.
Within this framework, Carolina Remorini and Mora Castro (UNAJ-CONICET, Argentina) coordinated Panel 191: “Navigating uncertainty and risks in reproductive trajectories: dialogues among patients, health workers, and anthropologists in clinical settings,” with participation from researchers in Argentina, Spain, China, Croatia, and the USA. All presentations analyzed and discussed how, in the clinical setting—specifically in reproduction and prenatal care—categories of risk and pathology are constructed and how this impacts the perinatal stage as well as the pre- and post-reproductive stages. Using conceptual tools and approaches from Social Anthropology, the researchers critically reviewed biomedical interventions, integrating the experiences of patients and healthcare professionals through ethnographic work in hospitals and clinics in various cultural contexts. The debate focused on the contributions anthropology can make in these clinical settings to improve care for individuals, addressing their needs, expectations, and social and cultural contexts.
Research conducted by the AFIN group was presented through the following papers, disseminating results from ongoing projects on gestational losses and patients’ experiences with obstetric care: “Cultural meanings of risk and reproduction: can pregnancy care ‘cure’ uncertainty?” by Ana Cerezuela; “Inviable, invisible, silenced. Medical challenges and social expectations around early pregnancy loss conversation in healthcare Settings” by Carolina Remorini; “Sharing decisions in pregnancy ‘at-risk’: Gynaecologists and midwives’ perspectives on patient participation in Spain” by Mariana Lichtsztejn; and “Therapeutic itineraries of women with endometriosis seeking medical treatment. An anthropological analysis from patients’ perspective” by Vanessa Mantilla.
Anna Molas, Paula Martone, and Giulia Colavolpe-Severi, along with Veronika Siegl from the University of Vienna, Austria, were convenors of the panel “Un/doing foetal ‘viability’: negotiating and governing the boundaries of life and death.” The panel, sponsored by the MAE (Medical Anthropology Europe) interest group of EASA, provided an opportunity to discuss and engage with the topic of fetal viability from diverse ethnographic sites and disciplinary approaches, through six contributions. Among these were “Liminal Babies, Liminal Parents: Personhood Constructions at the NICU,” by Anna Molas and Paula Martone, and “Before Viability: Fetal Development and the Law in Spain,” by Giulia Colavolpe-Severi.
With the paper “Procreation and Displacements across the Borderlands: the Liminal Mexican-US Space,” Bruna Álvarez presented, on behalf of herself and co-author Hugo Gaggiotti, the results of their research on reproductive mobilities at the Mexico-US border. Dr. Álvarez contributed to rethinking the concept of the border and “medical tourism,” adding her voice to the ten contributions of the panel “Un/Doing reproduction: transnational reproductive justice in times of (post-)pandemics and anti-gender campaigns,” which collectively aimed to illustrate local and global reproductive disruptions, as well as resistance strategies.
Bruna Álvarez was also, along with Violeta Salazar (Federal University of Amazonas, Brazil), the convenor of the online panel “(Un)doing Children’s and Teens’ Sexualities: From Danger to Pleasure Including Children’s Voices.” Among various panel presentations aimed at enriching the debate on the topic of sexual education, some stood out for presenting results from the SexAFIN project. Notably, “Children’s Perspectives on Pornography and Other Online Practices in Spain,” by Zenaida Maria Andreica, and “Childhood Perspectives Understanding Gender, Sex, and Normativity,” by Adriana Prexigueiro and Isabel Domingo.