MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES CAS AN 302: … · personhood, kinship, ... Lecture/Discussion where course does not require separate discussion registration ... General Education

CAS AN 302: TRANSFORMING LIFE: ANTHROPOLOGY OF NEWMEDICAL TECHNOLOGIESIn Workflow1. CASAN Chair ([email protected]; [email protected])2. CAS Dean ([email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; jessmroh; lcherch; [email protected]; [email protected])3. GEC SubCommittees ([email protected])4. Final Approval ([email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected])

Approval Path1. Sun, 13 Aug 2017 09:31:03 GMT

CHERYL D KNOTT (knott): Approved for CASAN Chair

New ProposalDate Submitted: Fri, 11 Aug 2017 22:25:15 GMT

Viewing: Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical TechnologiesLast edit: Mon, 20 Nov 2017 15:29:25 GMTChanges proposed by: shohetm

Section One – Provenance of ProposalProposer Information

Name Title Email School/College Department NameMERAV SHOHET Assistant Professor [email protected] CAS Anthropology

Section Two – Course or Co-Curricular Activity IdentifiersWhat are you proposing?

Course

College

College of Arts & Sciences

Department

ANTHROPOLOGY

Subject Code

CAS AN - Anthropology

Course Number

302

Course/Co-curricular Title

Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical Technologies

Short Title

ANT New MedTech

This is:

A New Course

Did you participate in a CTL workshop for the development of this activity?

Yes

Bulletin (40-word) Course Description

Seminar anthropologically compares the role of science and medicine in society and troubles what is natural and moral, e.g., about gender,personhood, kinship, and community, using case studies of new reproductive technologies in Asia, the Middle East, and North America.

Prerequisites, if any:

None, but recommend AN101 and AN210.

Co-requisites, if any:

Courses, if any, for which this course will be a prerequisite:

Courses, if any, for which this course will be a co-requisite:

Cross-Listing

Course Code TitleCAS WS 330 Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical Technologies

Course Type (for Scheduling Purposes):

Lecture/Discussion where course does not require separate discussion registration

Delivery Type

Face-to-Face

Credits

4

Please justify this number of credits, with reference to BU’s Policy on Credit Assignment and to the combination of required contact hours and studenteffort detailed in your proposed course syllabus.

In addition to 3 hours of discussion in class each week, students are required to invest a significant number of hours outside of class each week tocomplete reading and writing assignments, as well as collaboratively complete a group research project at the end of the term.

Is this course repeatable for additional credit?

No

Section Three – Scheduling and Enrollment InformationProposed first (or for existing course) next semester to be offered

Fall 2018

Proposed Last semester to be offered:

Offer Indefinitely

Full semester course/activity?

Yes

Course/Activity Location

Charles River Campus

Course/Activity offering pattern

Other

Please explain:

either every fall or spring or every other fall or spring

What is your projected minimum capacity across all semesters and sections in an academic year?

8

What is your projected maximum capacity across all semesters and sections in an academic year?

20

Please explain the basis for anticipating this enrollment total

To ensure that students achieve HUB and departmental learning outcomes, this seminar-style, discussion-intensive course is capped at 20 students;this will maximize student interaction in class and allow sufficient instructor attention to all students to provide them with timely and individualizedfeedback on each of their presentations and 9 assigned writing activities (4 major papers, at least 5 shorter papers per student).

Provide full detail if enrollment is expected to vary, for example, between Fall and Spring semesters

Enrollment fluctuates from term to term.

Does this course have capacity for more students to enroll?

Yes

Do you propose to reserve seats for specific student populations?

Yes

Number of reserved seats:

2

Explanation for reserved seating:

As one of the only 300-level courses satisfying the cultural component of the Medical Anthropology Minor, this course will reserve 2 seats for thisstudent demographic.

Section Four - General EducationAre you proposing (only for freshmen entering BU before September 2018 and transfer students entering before September 2020) that this course/activity fulfill current general education requirements?

Yes

Which Requirements?

Social Sciences requirement.

Are you proposing this course/activity for inclusion in the BU Hub program of general education for all freshman who enter BU in or after September2018?

Yes

1. Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Historical Interpretation

2. Scientific and Social Inquiry

3. Quantitative Reasoning

4. Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship

Ethical ReasoningGlobal Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy

Global Outcome 1

This course takes a fundamentally comparative perspective to understand the range and diversity of approaches to new medical technologies andtheir implications for the ways bodies, gender, personhood, and kinship are valued in different cultural/societal contexts. This diversity is examinedthrough cross-cultural comparison of reproductive technologies in at least three different contemporary world areas to highlight key similarities, aswell as differences, in culturally important practices and policies that revolve around the management of life itself. Course activities and assignmentsequip students to evaluate competing claims regarding the impacts of new medical technologies in a variety of societal contexts.

Global Outcome 2

N/A. The guidelines stipulate meeting at least one of the outcomes for this criterion. We will focus on the first learning outcome.

Ethical Outcome 1

Course activities and assignments equip students to identify and consider the cultural and political significance of new medical technologies, as wellas to consider the moral dilemmas involved in accessing, facilitating or prohibiting the use of new medical technologies, and to compare how differentgovernments (and religious traditions) mediate individuals’ use of (or access to) new medical technologies.

Ethical Outcome 2

Course activities and assignments equip students to identify, reflect on, discuss, and write about the ethical responsibilities and burdens facing users(or refusers) of new medical technologies in a variety of different cultural and societal contexts, and to consider the implications of different policiesfor people's lives.

5. Communication

Intellectual Toolkit

How will you evaluate whether learning outcomes for the relevant area(s) have been met?

This discussion-driven seminar will include a combination of short reading responses, individual analytic and reflective papers, and a group researchpaper and presentation that together will hone as well as evaluate students’ developing capacities to knowledgeably consider and compare thevarious ethical implications of accessing or refusing, facilitating or prohibiting the use of new medical technologies in a variety of societal contexts.Discussions, oral presentations, and written assignments will in turn also evaluate students’ comprehension, ability to synthesize, and apply theirknowledge to grapple with the complex challenges and opportunities with which new medical technologies present us in the contemporary world.

Educational StrategiesWhat educational strategies do you plan to use to encourage students’ full engagement in the course/activity both inside and outside of class?

The course is primarily based on lively discussions that deeply and closely engage case-based ethnographic materials that introduce students to avariety of cultural contexts and modes of apprehending new medical technologies in people’s lives across a variety of regional and religious contexts.Discussions are facilitated by short reading responses that students complete regularly ahead of class; these in turn cultivate students’ learning ofhow to formulate thoughtful and incisive arguments. In addition, by leading the class discussion at least twice per term, students will more deeplyengage with the required readings, which consists of award-winning and/or pioneering work in the field of medical anthropology. Students will worktogether both in leading discussions and in completing a group project where they will apply the insights and approaches learned in the course toconsider media representations of related issues. Finally, the individual analytic and reflective papers are designed to scaffold and cumulatively buildon each other to develop students’ ability to apprehend different cultural contexts and ethical dilemmas presenting persons and societies in thecontemporary world. Using active learning strategies in the class, and by providing students with weekly and periodic feedback on their completedassignments in preparation for the class, the course is designed to help students meet HUB and departmental goals and learning objectives. Studentslikewise are encouraged to meet with me individually outside of class for additional learning support.

Section Five - Relationship of Proposed Course to Existing Courses/Activities in Your Program or OthersDo you have Learning Objectives for this Course in addition to BU Hub Outcomes?

Yes

What will students who successfully complete this course/activity know and be able to do?

Learning Objectives StatementsThese outcomes align well with the HUB learning outcomes, but specifically include the ability to:1) Compare how different religious traditions (e.g., Confucian, Jewish, and Muslim) approach the use of new reproductive technologies;2) Reflect on and discuss the ethical responsibilities and burdens facing users (or refusers) of new medical technologies and compare how differentgovernments (and religious traditions) we encounter in the readings mediate individuals’ use of (or access to) these technologies3) Analyze how human bodies are valued in different cultural/societal contexts, including for example how women’s (and men’s) bodies arecommoditized;4) Identify and interpret what prohibitions or permissions regarding specific reproductive technologies reveal about a given society’s core values andbeliefs regarding personhood, the body, gender, kinship, and nature/“natural development”;5) Think, write, and talk in an anthropologically informed and critical manner about the use and circulation of new medical technologies in differentcultural/societal contexts.

How do these learning objectives map to school/college program learning outcomes?

This course builds competencies required for learning outcomes 1, 2, & 6 of the Anthropology BA program: to consider a “diversity of human culturesand the principles anthropologists employ to study them”; to learn about “cultural themes in at least one society other than their own, and theirrelationship to the dynamics of social organization”; and “to demonstrate an ability to relate theory to empirically grounded research to prepare themto interact with others in an era of globalization."

For what major(s) and/or minor(s) and/or concentration(s) will this course/activity fulfill program requirements?

School/College Degree Name HEGIS Short Translation LevelCAS BA Anthropology MajorCAS BA Anthropology MinorCAS BA Anthropology ConcentrationCAS BA Med AnthCross Cult Minor

Is this course/activity required for any major or minor program?

No

Majors and minors and general education aside, are there other student populations in relevant departments for whom this course/activity will serveas a valuable related elective?

Yes

Which student populations?

Any student who desires a deeper understanding of the diversity of cultural approaches to the use of new medical technologies, or who wants todevelop analytical skills in relational/holistic thinking and cultural analysis will find the course useful and interesting. Given the topical and regionalareas covered, SMED and pre-med, Sargent School, and CAS Middle Eastern, Jewish, or Israel studies majors will also find the course particularlyappealing.

Overlap. Is there any significant overlap with courses/activities currently offered by your program or by others?

No

Sequencing. Aside from having or serving as a pre-requisite, does this course/activity build on and/or lay groundwork for others?

Yes

Please explain.

It will be useful but not required for students to take AN101 or AN103 and AN210 or equivalent.

Additional comments about the intended value and impact of this course/activity:

The course will be a valuable addition to the current limited 300-level course offerings available for students minoring in Medical Anthropology, and topre-medical and other health professions students interested in the social sciences, as well as for students interested in the contemporary cultures ofIsrael/Palestine, Jews, and Muslims in the Middle East.

Section Six – Resource Needs and SustainabilityFacilities and equipment. Are any special facilities, equipment, and other resources needed to teach this course/activity?

Yes

Please detail these needs.

Seminar-style room with moveable seating and computer and projection technologies.

Have you ascertained that these needs can be met for the scheduled first offering of the course/activity?

Yes

Staffing. Will the staffing of this course, in terms of faculty and where relevant teaching fellows/assistants, etc., affect staffing support for othercourses? For example, will other courses not be taught or be taught less frequently?

No

Budget and Cost. Will start-up and continuation of the course/activity entail costs not already discussed?

No

Sustainability. Which members of your faculty are prepared to teach this course/activity regularly or on a rotational basis? Please explain.

Merav Shohet; Kimberly Arkin. Shohet was hired to enhance the department's psychological and medical anthropology program and is proposing thisnew course. Arkin is currently pursuing a research project focusing on new reproductive technologies and may in the future also want to teach thiscourse.

Additional Notes on any Aspect of Course/Activity

Submit this form and course/activity syllabus.Upload Syllabus

Shohet-Syllabus-New_Medical_Technologies.docx

Reviewer Comments

Key: 330

Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical Technologies CAS AN 302 & WS 302

Instructor: Prof. Merav Shohet Course Dates: TBD Office: 232 Bay State Road #419 Course Time & Location: TBD E-mail: [email protected] Course Credits: 4 Office Hours: TBA

Course Description:

How do new medical technologies, such as reproductive technologies, affect people’s lives in different cultural contexts? What do different societies’ approaches to these medical technologies tell us about their values and apprehensions, for example about personhood, the body, gender, race, class, kinship, and morality? How do different religious traditions and specific political, economic, and societal contexts shape people’s access to and experiences of reproductive technologies? How do such technologies trouble our understandings of what is “natural”? In this discussion-driven course, we will confront these and other questions by drawing on primary ethnographic and theoretical sources, as well as popular media representations. We will also debate the ethics of using different types of reproductive technologies in a variety of cultural and regional contexts, including, for example, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North America. Students from all fields and backgrounds are welcome in this course, provided you come with an open mind and are ready for a challenge.

Course Goals include helping you:

1) Fulfill the HUB Capacity of “Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship” by focusing on the HUB Areas of “Ethical Reasoning” and “Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy”;

2) Identify and consider the cultural and political significance of new medical technologies using an anthropological approach;

3) Consider the moral dilemmas involved in accessing, facilitating or prohibiting the use of new medical technologies such as new reproductive technologies;

4) Sharpen your anthropological thinking, writing and informal presentation skills.

Learning Objectives & Outcomes: After taking this course, you should be able to:

1) Compare how different religious traditions (e.g., Confucian, Jewish, and Muslim) approach the use of new reproductive technologies;

2) Reflect on and discuss the ethical responsibilities and burdens facing users (or refusers) of new medical technologies and compare how different governments (and religious traditions) we encounter in the readings mediate individuals’ use of (or access to) these technologies

3) Analyze how human bodies are valued in different cultural/societal contexts, including for example how women’s (and men’s) bodies are commoditized;

4) Identify and interpret what prohibitions or permissions regarding specific reproductive technologies reveal about a given society’s core values and beliefs regarding personhood, the body, gender, kinship, and nature/“natural development”;

mailto:[email protected]

Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical Technologies Syllabus Page 2 of 8

5) Think, write, and talk in an anthropologically informed and critical manner about the use and circulation of new medical technologies in different cultural/societal contexts.

Course Format: This course is designed as a seminar, not as a series of lectures. Although there will be some

sessions that are devoted to setting the scene for a particular ethnographic work (led by student

presenters), most classes will be rooted in discussion focusing on case studies from the Middle

East, North America, and Asia. Your learning will depend on active discussion in class, informed

by your deep and engaged reading and thinking, as well as periodic reflective and analytic

writing assignments.

Course Texts: The following monographs are available for purchase at BU Barnes & Noble, and are on reserve at Mugar Library:

• Almeling, Renee. 2012. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. Berkeley: University

of California Press.

• Gammeltoft, Tine. 2014. Haunting Images: A Cultural Account of Selective Reproduction in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press.

• Inhorn, Marcia. 2012. The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the

Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• Kahn, Susan Martha. 2000. Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Rapp, Rayna. 1999. Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in

America. New York: Routledge.

• Teman, Elly. 2010. Birthing a Mother: The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self. Berkeley:

University of California Press. You are also invited to select one among the following monographs (or to pursue an independent ethnographic project in consultation with me):

• Ivry, Tzipy. 2010. Embodying Culture: Pregnancy in Japan and Israel. New Brunswick: Rutgers

University Press.

• Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann. 2002. Birthing the Nation: Strategies of Palestinian Women in Israel.

Berkeley: University of California Press. OR

• Roberts, Elizabeth F. S. 2012. God’s Laboratory: Assisted Reproduction in the Andes. Berkeley:

University of California Press.

Course Website: The course website on Blackboard (learn.bu.edu) is a center for important information, including announcements, any updates to the syllabus, assignments, etc. Please check it frequently. Please also post links and suggestions for additional information that should be included, and post questions, messages, etc. to the course Discussion Board.

Course Requirements and Grading:

Attendance & active informed participation: 15%

5 Reading Response Papers 10% total

Leading class discussion: 5% total


3 short papers: 15%, 20%, 25%

Group presentation & short paper : 10%

Attendance and active informed participation (15%): To deepen your understanding of

medical anthropological approaches to the opportunities and challenges posed by new medical

technologies, this course is designed as a discussion-based seminar. Your presence and active

participation are an integral part of the learning process for you and your peers. This means that

you MUST come to class with the reading in hand, ready to propose ideas, arguments and

questions for us to discuss. To be informed and engaged, you MUST read all assigned texts

carefully PRIOR to the class during which they will be addressed. Please approach the readings

with an open mind and be prepared to ask difficult questions about the nature of nature, life, and

morality. In our discussions, I encourage you to draw on your own experiences, as well as to

engage deeply and critically with the work of experts Your grade will take into account your

presence in class and the regularity, clarity, and insight of your interventions. Repeated absences

will diminish your grade, as would regular but silent or unengaged attendance.

Reading response papers (15%): To get credit for reading and to facilitate our discussions, I

ask that you prepare at least 5 times over the course of the term a 1-page (400 words or less)

response to a reading selection the night before we are scheduled to talk about it in class (post it

to the Discussion Board on Blackboard by 8 pm). Plan to post at least 2 times before Spring

Break and at least 2 times after (and the other one any time over the course of the term). You are

free to choose which reading selections to respond to, so I will not accept any late responses. The

only caveat is that you may NOT write a response paper on a text that you are presenting. These

postings will be graded as satisfactory/unsatisfactory.

The response paper must have two parts:

1) a one-paragraph summary of what you read: What was (one of) the main point(s) the author

was trying to make in the chapters you read?

2) a one paragraph reflection on what you read. Some of the things you might want to think

about in this second paragraph are: What does the argument assume? How does it fit with other

arguments or approaches that we have seen before? What new perspectives might this particular

approach open up?

Leading class discussion (5%): In collaboration with a classmate, you will lead the class

discussion at least two times this term. This will involve presenting in a visually compelling

manner key background information regarding the ethnographic context we are reading about,

collating, drawing on, and responding in class to the postings to the Discussion Board, choosing

key quotes and preparing questions from the readings that will help stimulate an active

discussion, and ensuring that the discussion stays on track by responding to peers, summarizing

key points, or moving us to consider other questions not yet brought up. Please try to engage the

class in an activity that demonstrates the concepts from our reading. BE CREATIVE! If you

need help coming up with an activity, come meet with me and I’ll be glad to brainstorm with

you. We will collaboratively determine fair grading criteria for discussion leaders at the

beginning of the term.


Three short individual papers plus one group paper and final presentation (65% total):

• Unit 1 Paper (15%) due by the end of week 5

Write a 3-4 analytic (thesis-driven) paper in which you consider how the cultural-religious

contexts presented in the Kahn’s and Inhorn’s respective ethnographies reveal, as well as

construct, their given societies’ understanding and valuation of gender, family,

personhood, and the body through their approaches to assistive reproductive technologies.

Make sure to address the role of religious authorities (Jewish vs. Muslim) and/or the role of

the public health system in Israel vs. other parts of the Middle East in shaping the types of

ethical options and dilemmas confronting the stakeholders involved. Your paper must refer

to and appropriately cite specific examples from both ethnographies. Provide an apt title to

your paper – something that clues readers in to the point(s) you make in the paper’s body.

• Unit 2 Paper (20%) due by the end of week 9

Write a 3-4 reflective paper describing and analyzing how the issues raised in Teman’s and

Almeling’s ethnographies have changed and/or reinforced your ideas regarding the moral

dilemmas surrounding pregnancy and its commodification or regarding the practices and

consequences of gendering bodies and persons. Make sure to refer to and appropriately cite

specific examples from the texts at hand. You may also refer to one or more of the

ethnographies read earlier in the term. This paper should neither be simply a summary of

the authors’ claims, nor of your opinions, but rather an attempt to engage in an informed

conversation with the scholars we have read so far. Again, provide an apt title for your

paper – something catchy or provocative that gets at the gist of the point(s) you make.

• Unit 3 Paper (20%) due on the scheduled exam day.

Write a 5-7-page paper in which you critically analyze and reflect on the management of

pregnancy in at least three of the cultural contexts portrayed over the course of the term

(US, Vietnam, Israel/Palestine, etc.). The paper should draw explicit comparisons among

your chosen ethnographies regarding at least one of the following issues, using specific and

appropriately cited examples from the readings:

- What role does the society’s political history and present economic situation play in the

use and availability of specific pregnancy-related technologies?

- What role do cultural tropes or religious traditions play in shaping the experience of

pregnancy management among the different stakeholders involved?

- In what ways do the practices and understandings of science and nature differ across

these 3-4 contexts?

- How do these societies’ modes of moral reasoning differ and in turn affect the types of

policies and practices regarding pregnancy testing and termination?

• Media Analysis Group Paper and Presentation (10% total) due week 15 You will team up with 1-2 classmates to write a short analytic paper and present your key conclusions to the class (5 minutes plus questions), about an issue of your interest related to the topics and questions we’ve discussed over the term. The project will involve collecting a sample of public representations of the issue (e.g., newspaper, magazine, radio, TV), which you will then contextualize and


critically analyze using the insights and approaches of medical anthropologists, drawing on course readings and additional researched material as relevant. For further instructions, see the Appendix.

Grade Calculation: Unless otherwise specified, all written work will be held to high standards of clarity, coherence, and strength of argument, as well as grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

‘A’-quality work will be able to develop persuasive arguments, using the readings and other class resources as evidence, and will be superbly written or otherwise executed, and in general exceed expectations. ‘B’-quality work will be very well written or executed and in addition to demonstrating clear understanding of the material from week to week, will develop themes and make explicit links, comparisons, and contrasts between readings and other class resources relating to the given topic (this will be modeled in class). ‘C’-quality work will simply demonstrate a clear understanding of course materials from week to week, but will lack sufficient analysis and/or be marred by stylistic or other writing difficulties. ‘D’-quality work will show little to no effort and/or understanding, will barely meet the requirements of the assignments, and/or be completely overshadowed by stylistic and other writing difficulties that render the analysis deeply flawed. ‘F’-quality will not meet even the basic requirements of the assignment.

Semester Grade Criteria:

94.00-100.00 = A (BU does not allow A+ semester grades)

90.00-93.99 = A-

87.00-89.99 = B+ 84.00-86.99 = B 80.00-83.99 = B- 77.00-79.99 = C+ 74.00-76.99 =C 70.00-73.99 = C- 67.00-69.99 = D+

64.00-66.99 = D 60.00 - 63.99 = D- Anything below 60 = F

Office Hours and E-Mail: I encourage you to visit my office hours during the semester. I am available to discuss specific issues arising from the course, as well as to exchange more general insights and chat about experiences from your studies or my research. While I will generally strive to answer emails within 48 hours, I do ask that all questions and comments relating to readings and assignments that are not of a personal nature be posted to Blackboard, and that personal matters be discussed with me in person during office hours (or scheduled meetings as needed). When e-mailing, please use your BU email and ensure the course number (AN3##) appears in the email subject line.


Late Assignments & Missed Coursework:

• You will be assessed a penalty of 4% per day for late assignments, including weekends and

anything submitted after the timed deadline on the due date. I will not accept assignments 7 or

more days late.

• Reading responses and presentations cannot be made up, except when there are extreme

extenuating circumstances appropriately documented. In that case, do your best to make

alternate arrangements with me well in advance.

• When you are absent from class, you are not participating and will not get credit. However, it is the policy of the university and this course to make accommodations for absences due to religious observances. If there is a religious holy day that will require your absence, please let me know in advance so that we can make alternate arrangements. Similarly, student athletes must provide me with a schedule for the semester, signed by the coach, to be eligible for an excused absence, and should make alternate arrangements with me to make up the class.

Academic Integrity:

Academic integrity is essential to the pursuit of learning and scholarship in a university, and to

ensuring that a degree from Boston University is a strong signal of each student’s individual

academic achievement. As a result, BU treats cases of cheating or plagiarism very seriously.

Please familiarize yourself with BU’s Conduct Code

(https://www.bu.edu/academics/policies/academic-conduct-code/), which outlines the behaviors

that constitute academic dishonesty, and the processes for addressing academic offenses.

Remember, handing in someone else’s work or ideas as your own constitutes plagiarism, as does

using someone’s ideas without attribution. You must give a citation, including publication date

and page number, when you use an author’s ideas in your paper, even if you do not quote the text

word-for-word. If you have any questions, please ask. Be informed and be careful.

Resources:

- In addition to consulting with me, please take advantage of BU resources, including the library (http://library.bu.edu/medicalanthropology, 617.353.2376,) and the Writing Center (http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/the-writing-center/). Make appointments to receive additional help, e.g., in both the mechanics of writing and formulating clear arguments.

- If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, stressed-out, or just need to talk, do get in touch with the counseling center (http://www.bu.edu/students/health/counseling).

- Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. If you have a disability/health consideration that may require accommodations, please contact me and/or the BU Disability Services office (http://www.bu.edu/disability/) so we can help you succeed in the course.

- If you feel shy and intimidated by public speaking, please talk to me early in the semester. We will strive to design strategies to overcome barriers to your

https://www.bu.edu/academics/policies/academic-conduct-code/

http://library.bu.edu/medicalanthropology

https://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/

http://www.bu.edu/students/health/counseling

http://www.bu.edu/disability/)


participation, as speaking up and presenting in class do constitute an integral component of your learning experience and your final grade.

- Finally, I understand that “life happens.” If there are extenuating circumstances that prevent

you from succeeding in the course, please provide documentation and notify me as far in

advance as is possible, so that we can make alternate arrangements.

Written Assignments: All written assignments posted to Blackboard must follow the following format: double-spaced, 12-point font, 1” margins on all sides, page numbers and your name included in the Header or Footer, and submitted as a Word document. The file name should consist of your name and the assignment title, e.g., Shohet_Unit1Paper.docx. You must cite all sources appropriately, using the Chicago or APA citation format. Please adhere to word- and page-limit requirements, and give your paper an informative title within the paper’s body.

Cell Phones and Laptops: Please turn your cell phones off and keep your laptops off-line. They are distracting and disrespectful to use in the classroom. Studies show that students who take hand-written notes learn and internalize the material better. However, if you must take typed notes, you are welcome to do so. Using your laptop or similar device for any other purpose (surfing the web, face-booking, twitting, etc.) is sure to annoy me and distract your peers. Please avoid.

Copyright: For the protection of privacy and copyright, any unauthorized video/audio-recording of this class is strictly prohibited.

Course Schedule:

Week 1 Introduction: Why do we care about new medical technologies, particularly

reproductive technologies? How can anthropology’s modes of thinking and research contribute

to our understanding of these technologies’ in our and others’ lives?

Unit 1: Assisted Conception I: Producing New Religioned(?) Families and Persons

Weeks 2-3 Kahn, Susan Martha. 2000. Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted

Conception in Israel. Durham: Duke University Press.

Weeks 4-5 Inhorn, Marcia. 2012. The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities,

Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Due by the end of Week 5: Unit1 Paper.

Unit 2: Assisted Conception II: Commodifying Gender and Birth Gifts?


Weeks 6-7 Teman, Elly. 2010. Birthing a Mother: The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant

Self. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Weeks 8-9 Almeling, Renee. 2012. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm.

Berkeley: University of California Press.

Due by the end of Week 9: Unit2 Paper.

Unit 3: Testing Pregnancies: A New National Order?

Weeks 10-11 Rapp, Rayna. 1999. Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of

Amniocentesis in America. New York: Routledge.

Weeks 12-13 Gammeltoft, Tine. 2014. Haunting Images: A Cultural Account of Selective

Reproduction in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Weeks 14-15 Ivry, Tzipy. 2010. Embodying Culture: Pregnancy in Japan and Israel. New

Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. OR Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann. 2002. Birthing the Nation:

Strategies of Palestinian Women in Israel. Berkeley: University of California Press. OR Roberts,

Elizabeth F. S. 2012. God’s Laboratory: Assisted Reproduction in the Andes. Berkeley:

University of California Press. OR pick another relevant ethnography in consultation with me

OR draw on a person-centered interview you have conducted with a medical professional or a

family member who has grappled with reproductive technologies and dilemmas comparable to

those in the readings.** You must consult with me by week 7 if you want to select this final

option, and have at least two additional meetings with me once you have embarked on this

project.

Due end of week 14/week 15: Group Presentation and short group research paper.

Due on the final exam day: Unit 3 Paper.

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES CAS AN 302: … · personhood, kinship, ... Lecture/Discussion where course does not require separate discussion registration ... General Education

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