"Gay Becker, the leading ethnographer of the infertility experience in the U.S., provides a powerful account of how American women and men think, feel, and talk about their utilization of new reproductive technologies. This book will be required reading for those embarking on the infertility treatment odyssey, as well as for scholars interested in the relationship of gender to technology." --Marcia Inhorn, author of "Infertility and Patriarchy

"This is a very powerful book. It forces the reader to scrutinize his/her own relationships to biology, to parenthood and to normalcy. But Gay Becker's real tour de force goes beyond even this! The deeper accomplishment of her work is that when, in a decade or two, children born through these new reproductive technologies ask the parents why they were born in the first place, they will be able to turn to Becker's book. The answers will be cultural as well as personal, deeply anchored not only in their parents' desires and experiences but also in profound social and technological innovations." --Isabelle Bazanger, author of "Inventing Pain Medicine from the Laboratory to the Clinic

"As a longtime facilitator of infertility support groups, I found The Elusive Embryo to be a fascinating and powerful examination of the cultural forces that shape the experience of being infertile as well as of the relationship between reproductive technologies and the consumers they serve. This is a book that makes you think; it is also one that offers recognition, perspective, and ultimately solace to those undergoing the transforming process of dealing with infertility."--Cecile T. Lampton, M.S.

"What distinguishes this book is its focus on the subjectiveexperience of dealing with infertility and its treatment. The success of Becker's nuanced description of this difficult, emotionally-charged process may be explained by the way in which she brings to bear her own experience of infertility-a masterful exercise in involved detachment." --Simone Bateman, CNS-CERMES

"A fine account of experiences of suffering in everyday America understood as occasions for making meaning."--Arthur Kleinman, co-editor of "Social Suffering

"An original and compassionate contribution to the study of human suffering. It describes how people try to make sense of lives disrupted, and often fragmented, by major crises: stroke, illness, migration, miscarriage or infertility. Her descriptions of the narratives and metaphors they use to try to restore the coherence of their world-view and relationships is both vivid and readable."--Cecil G. Helman, author of "Culture, Health and Illness

"Using the methods and perspectives of cultural phenomenology, and narrative analysis, this powerful and moving work brings new meanings and understandings to the disruptions, personal distresses, and emotional crises that occur in daily life. Disruptions and chaos are part of the human condition. Gay Becker brilliantly shows how ordinary people address this fact of life."--Norman Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"A remarkable, creative synthesis of up-to-the-minute theories of symbolic healing and narrative performance by one of contemporary medical anthropology's most prolific and sophisticated practitioners. Gay Becker presents many poignant and unforgettable cases from major ethnographic studies conducted by herself and her colleagues in the United States on topics including: adaptation to stroke, meanings of infertility, management of disruptions such as divorce in mid-life, transitions of the elderly to assisted living, and multi-ethnic experiences of illness in the health care system. Becker is a master of life history and life story methods. Her analyses areimpeccably grounded in first-class ethnographic research to produce a mature and exciting work that will be read widely across many disciplines."--Gelya Frank, University of Southern California

"Though ours is an age of dislocation and uprootedness, the issue of how human beings negotiate the stony ground between past and present lives transcends historical and cultural boundaries. In this illuminating and far-reaching study of disrupted lives, Gay Becker explores in a variety of critical contemporary settings the interplay between what people suffer and what they make of their suffering. Giving voice to the people with whom she worked, and sensitive to the embodied and dialogic dimensions of human agency, Becker shows how people variously deploy cultural resources such as metaphor and narrative to cope with adversity, recover a semblance of order and continuity, and actively regain a sense of self-determination."--Michael Jackson, University of Sydney

Unlike most infertility books that focus on medical treatment, Healing the Infertile Family examines the social and emotional problems experienced by couples confronting infertility and suggests how they can be alleviated. In this updated edition, Gay Becker discusses her most recent study of couples experiencing infertility and offers guidelines for resolution of this common problem that will enable couples to face the future with hope. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

Unlike most infertility books that focus on medical treatment, Healing the Infertile Family examines the social and emotional problems experienced by couples confronting infertility and suggests how they can be alleviated. In this updated edition, Gay Becker discusses her most recent study of couples experiencing infertility and offers guidelines for resolution of this common problem that will enable couples to face the future with hope. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

"This sensitive and well-written anthropological study of the aged deaf describes a vital subculture of disabled persons . . Thought provoking implications are drawn from the deaf aged for the more general experience of being old in America."--Science Books and Films "A book that takes us into a community distinguished by a disability that, from an outsider's view is full of liabilities. Instead, we find assets and strengths enabling people who were born deaf or who lost their hearing in early childhood to cope with their advancing age ...a sensitive, well-written portrait of the people and the community studied. It is a must for researchers who study the old and for those who work with the disabled."--Medical Anthropology Newsletter "Becker reveals how the adaptation to deafness early in life provides the basis for social interaction, coping mechanisms, and strong group and community bonds. Early isolation, special schooling, separation from family, and communication limited to deaf peers create long-lasting adult groups that provide exceptionaJ social support for old age ...Becker calls attention to values and circumstances that stress and build an enduring group life. Social interdependence seems to ease the process of aging among the deaf, whereas the mainstream stress on personal autonomy and individualism may be less efficacious for the aging process." --Contemporary Sociology "The straightforward text, filled with brief histories and quotations from interviews, relates how the homogeneity and intimacy of the group develop from childhood in response to their isolation from the hearing world. It is this unity, Becker stresses, that aids the deaf elderly to better accept aging and its accompanying trials." --Booklist "Social science observation is combined with case history material in a most readable format. It is fascinating."--Sociology and Social Research