Global Gender Issues

Global Gender Issueslooks at transnational reproduction in two countries. The first book you will read for this unit Wombs in Labor studies transnational commercial surrogacy and the women who serve as surrogate mothers in India. The second Pregnant on Arrival examines the debates and legislation surrounding the transnational immigration of pregnant Nigerian women into Ireland. The essay assignment is intended to help you reflect on these controversial examples of transnational reproduction. The transnational aspects of Indian surrogacy and Irish immigration complicate conventional understandings of reproduction motherhood and family. 1.Explain how transnational processes especially increased global connectivity and persistent global inequalities complicate conventional understandings of reproduction motherhood and family. 2.Explain why the examples of surrogate mothers in India and Nigerian immigrant mothers in Ireland provide important insights into this process. 3.Analyze the formal and informal disciplinary strategies aimed at Indian surrogate and Nigerian immigrant mothers and how they complicate conventional understandings .. .4.Analyze the ways that surrogate and immigrant mothers use and subvert traditional notions of reproduction motherhood and family to assert agency despite their marginalized social positions. Additional instructions: •Be sure to acknowledge differences within and between the two countries/peoples to avoid stereotyping and/or essentializing them. Words like many most some often sometimes etc. are particularly useful for this purpose. •Be sure to engage directly with the two major sources Wombs in Labor: Transnational Commercial Surrogacy in India and Pregnant on Arrival: Making the “Illegal” Immigrant. •Be sure to include at least four different “primary” sources from the PowerPoint slides a minimum of two for each case study (India and Ireland). Sources will vary in importance according to the option you choose and the way you chose to develop it. In general the more time that we spent in class with a source the more you should consider including it in your essay. Citing Sources: You’ll need to cite your sources but to keep things simple you can use the following code: WL for Wombs in Labor and PA for Pregnant on Arrival. The other sources should be cited by name in the text. In the case of the books you should also include page numbers or some other location indicator so a citation would look like this: (PA183). Technical Requirements: Papers should be 7-8 pages in length (1800 to 2000 words) double-spaced with standard margins and standard fonts. It’s okay if your paper runs a bit long but please keep it under 2200 words. Grading Criteria: •a clearly stated carefully developed thesis (point of view central argument) •appropriate examples (both general and specific) from the readings and films •careful analysis (that connects the examples to the argument) •good overall organization •coherent thematically-unified paragraphs •well-constructed grammatically accurate sentences