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Assisted reproduction in Norwegian medical history: 1950-2003 (completed)

New ways of producing, administering and storing life makes it pertinent to investigate the new constellations of biopower and biopolitics which these practices bring about.

Photo: colourbox.com

About the project

Assisted reproduction has been controversial since the introduction of insemination in the 1930s.

When Louise Brown was born in 1978, and subsequently Mona Susanne Tetlie in Norway in 1984, attempts at treating infertility had been in place for a long time, and included surgical and pharmacological treatment.

However, the development of techniques like in vitro fertilisatiion (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were revolutionary because these techniques opened up for the production and reproduction of life outside the human body. These new ways of producing, administering and storing life makes it pertinent to investigate the new constellations of biopower and biopolitics which assisted reproduction technology bring about.

Objectives

The aims of the project are:

  • To relate assisted reproduction technology  to its specific historical, political and cultural context.
  • To investigate how images of the body in general, and of the female body in particular, changed  as a result of these developments, and how they in turn influenced scientific research.

Background

The project started 1.9.2011 and is a joint effort between the Department of Community Medicine and the Department of Health Science.

Main supervisor : Anne Kveim Lie

Co-supervisors: Heidi Fjeld and Hilde Bondevik.

Financing

University of Oslo

Cooperation

Start - Finish

1.9.2011-1.9.2015

Published Apr. 5, 2011 7:11 PM - Last modified Apr. 11, 2023 12:56 PM

Contact

Projectleader:

Anne Kveim Lie

PhD-student:

Eira Bjørvik
 

Participants

Detailed list of participants