papers on commercial surrogacy by Amrita pande
Surrogates should be facilitating dialogues, not just being discussed by an anxious patriarchal s... more Surrogates should be facilitating dialogues, not just being discussed by an anxious patriarchal state.
In this paper I analyze a fundamental paradox of commercial surrogacy – wherein a market that lit... more In this paper I analyze a fundamental paradox of commercial surrogacy – wherein a market that literally produces humans and human relationships is critically dependent on the maintenance of a global racial reproductive hierarchy that privileges certain relationships while completing denying others. To understand the booming market of surrogacy in India we have to situate it within its rather contradictory reproductive history – the post colonial state agenda of aggressive antinatalism at home coupled with the neo-liberal imperative of unrestrained fertility tourism. This national agenda resonates with a broader global population control program that frames the high fertility rates of countries in the global south as a “global danger” that needs to be controlled at whatever cost. At one level, the womb-mothers (surrogates) subvert these hegemonic discourses by taking control over their bodies and using their fertile bodies “productively”. At another level, as they align their own reproduction through decisions about fertility, sterilization and abortion, in order to (re)produce children of higher classes and privileged nations, they ultimately conform to this global neo-eugenic imperative of reducing the fertility of lower class women in the global south. Despite these global structural inequalities, or perhaps because of it, surrogates’ creatively construct kinship ties with the baby and the intended mother. These ties cross boundaries based on class, caste and religion and sometimes even race and nation. In the final analysis I discuss the poignancy of these powerful relationships – they disrupt hegemonic genetic and patriarchal bases of kinship ties but ultimately reify structures of inequality
We develop the following narrative as a series of field notes by a sociologist (Amrita) learning ... more We develop the following narrative as a series of field notes by a sociologist (Amrita) learning how to use creative means to re-study her work, and a creative artist (Ditte) using the dual lens of an artist and a researcher. We focus on two moments in the
making of our performance Made in India: Godh Bharai (ritual Hindu baby shower) organized by the surrogates for Amrita, and an embroidery project with the surrogates.On the one hand,
both moments allowed us to interact with the surrogate mothers outside of their role as “disciplined motherworkers,” living under strict medical surveillance in surrogacy hostels (Pande, 2010). On the other, these experiences could be shared with audiences around the world – people who would otherwise never get to
“interact” with the mother-workers in India. We explore both moments as community theatre, albeit involving two distinct communities – that of the surrogates and that of audiences.
The ultimate ambition of the interactive performance Made in India: Notes from a Baby Farm is to bridge the two communities so that they can interrogate how they see themselves, how they see others, and how they see themselves in relation to others.
Papers on migrant domestic work by Amrita pande
A 50-page policy document on migrant domestic work in Lebanon
In this paper I extend the literature on 'illegal' migrant workers by connecting the macro-level ... more In this paper I extend the literature on 'illegal' migrant workers by connecting the macro-level discussion on policies to the lived experiences of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Lebanon.
Abstract
In this paper I extend the literature on ‘illegal’ migrant workers by connecting the ma... more Abstract
In this paper I extend the literature on ‘illegal’ migrant workers by connecting the macro-level discussion on policies to the lived experiences of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Lebanon. I analyse two seemingly contrasting categories of ‘illegal’ migrant workers. First, the MDWs working illegally and desperate to return home, who are unable to return because of the system of migration in Lebanon. Second, MDWs banned
by their state from migrating to Lebanon but who choose devious ways to make the journey. I argue that despite their apparently disparate subject positions, both sets of migrant workers are ‘illegal’ because of an underlying paternalism in the policies of nation-states towards MDWs – the gendered construction of MDWs as workers who need both protection and surveillance. This paternalism, in turn, produces a class of ‘global exiles’ who are working and living in prolonged separation from their home. They are abandoned by their home countries but trapped without
any rights as either workers or citizens in the host country.
Key words: illegal migration, Lebanon, migrant domestic workers, paternalistic
policies
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papers on commercial surrogacy by Amrita pande
making of our performance Made in India: Godh Bharai (ritual Hindu baby shower) organized by the surrogates for Amrita, and an embroidery project with the surrogates.On the one hand,
both moments allowed us to interact with the surrogate mothers outside of their role as “disciplined motherworkers,” living under strict medical surveillance in surrogacy hostels (Pande, 2010). On the other, these experiences could be shared with audiences around the world – people who would otherwise never get to
“interact” with the mother-workers in India. We explore both moments as community theatre, albeit involving two distinct communities – that of the surrogates and that of audiences.
The ultimate ambition of the interactive performance Made in India: Notes from a Baby Farm is to bridge the two communities so that they can interrogate how they see themselves, how they see others, and how they see themselves in relation to others.
Papers on migrant domestic work by Amrita pande
In this paper I extend the literature on ‘illegal’ migrant workers by connecting the macro-level discussion on policies to the lived experiences of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Lebanon. I analyse two seemingly contrasting categories of ‘illegal’ migrant workers. First, the MDWs working illegally and desperate to return home, who are unable to return because of the system of migration in Lebanon. Second, MDWs banned
by their state from migrating to Lebanon but who choose devious ways to make the journey. I argue that despite their apparently disparate subject positions, both sets of migrant workers are ‘illegal’ because of an underlying paternalism in the policies of nation-states towards MDWs – the gendered construction of MDWs as workers who need both protection and surveillance. This paternalism, in turn, produces a class of ‘global exiles’ who are working and living in prolonged separation from their home. They are abandoned by their home countries but trapped without
any rights as either workers or citizens in the host country.
Key words: illegal migration, Lebanon, migrant domestic workers, paternalistic
policies
making of our performance Made in India: Godh Bharai (ritual Hindu baby shower) organized by the surrogates for Amrita, and an embroidery project with the surrogates.On the one hand,
both moments allowed us to interact with the surrogate mothers outside of their role as “disciplined motherworkers,” living under strict medical surveillance in surrogacy hostels (Pande, 2010). On the other, these experiences could be shared with audiences around the world – people who would otherwise never get to
“interact” with the mother-workers in India. We explore both moments as community theatre, albeit involving two distinct communities – that of the surrogates and that of audiences.
The ultimate ambition of the interactive performance Made in India: Notes from a Baby Farm is to bridge the two communities so that they can interrogate how they see themselves, how they see others, and how they see themselves in relation to others.
In this paper I extend the literature on ‘illegal’ migrant workers by connecting the macro-level discussion on policies to the lived experiences of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Lebanon. I analyse two seemingly contrasting categories of ‘illegal’ migrant workers. First, the MDWs working illegally and desperate to return home, who are unable to return because of the system of migration in Lebanon. Second, MDWs banned
by their state from migrating to Lebanon but who choose devious ways to make the journey. I argue that despite their apparently disparate subject positions, both sets of migrant workers are ‘illegal’ because of an underlying paternalism in the policies of nation-states towards MDWs – the gendered construction of MDWs as workers who need both protection and surveillance. This paternalism, in turn, produces a class of ‘global exiles’ who are working and living in prolonged separation from their home. They are abandoned by their home countries but trapped without
any rights as either workers or citizens in the host country.
Key words: illegal migration, Lebanon, migrant domestic workers, paternalistic
policies
WHERE: University of Kopenhagen in Amager // Karen Blixens Vej 4, 2300 København S // Auditorium 22.0.11