Researchers from the AFIN Group, Bruna Alvarez and Anna Molas, participated as speakers at the inaugural session of the course “El preu de la reproducció: mercat, desig, precarietats i nous imaginaris” (“The Price of Reproduction: Market, Desire, Precarity, and New Imaginaries”), organized by the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA) in collaboration with Ona Bros (BetaBlastoCuir), Miquel Missé (Un Estudio Propio), and Raquel Miralles (Crisi | Espai de Pensament Crític).
As presented by the course organizers, its objective is to open debates and politicize the discomfort involved in facing the promises and limitations of assisted reproduction. To that end, the course delves into the interactions between technology, bioeconomy, and biological possibilities, and how these shape our social imaginaries.
In their presentation, Alvarez and Molas addressed the social, legal, and economic causes that restrict people’s reproductive options and help explain the rise of assisted reproduction in Spain and the development of the fertility industry, one of the largest worldwide. Focusing on their research on motherhood and egg donation, they offered insights into the current context. In one of the course’s sessions, AFIN Group doctoral student Alexandra Desy will also participate, providing her perspective based on her research on French patients who cross the border to undergo assisted reproduction treatments in Spain.