Willemijn de Jong and Olga Tkach, eds. Making Bodies, Persons, and Families: Normalising Reproductive Technologies in Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2009

Abstract

As aptly pointed out by Sarah Franklin in the foreword (9), the book under review is the first anthology of its kind exploring what used to be called new reproductive technologies—now usually referred to as assisted reproductive technologies, or ARTs—in Russia and Switzerland, with reflections on the situation in Germany. Written by social anthropologists, sociologists, and journalists with an anthropological background from all three countries, this unique collection is the result of a three-year Swiss-funded research project between the St. Petersburg–based Centre for Independent Social Research and the social anthropology department of the University of Zurich. This joint effort conducted by exclusively female authors is perhaps most remarkable for its geographical foci.