The death of one�s parents, irrespective of the age at which it occurs, is generally regarded as a life experience of considerable significance. The last few years of an elderly person�s life are often characterized by increasing frailty, declining health and loss of independence. Responsibility for the spiritual and physical care of parents during that period is undertaken by many adult children. Current research in this area is generally informed by the requirements of social policy, which, by identifying and addressing the inherent difficulties in this so-called informal caring, is designed to support carers in the community. The research reported in this thesis represents a departure from this mode of inquiry and seeks, rather, to explore the existential aspects of caring in this particular situation, from the carer�s perspective. To achieve this objective, an existential phenomenological approach informed principally by the philosophies of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, and the adaptation of these philosophies by Schutz, Giorgi and van Manen to social science research, was developed to suit the particular requirements of the topic. In addition to the author�s autobiographic material, primary sources include conversations with five people who had been principal carers for their parents during their final illnesses. In all cases caring had ended with the parent�s death at least one year before the conversations took place. The principal secondary sources are Simone de Beauvoir�s memoir, A Very Easy Death, and Philip Roth�s account of his father�s illness and death, Patrimony: A True Story. In addition, the argument is supported throughout by reference to other literary works. From these sources a number of major existential themes, including temporality, hope, suffering, and knowing the body, have been explored in depth, in conjunction with relevant existential theories. Synthesis of these topics suggests that in this particular circumstance, for the people involved in the study, the phenomenon of caring can be understood as an unconditional engagement with the life and concerns of their parent at the end of life, and can be interpreted within an existential framework as representing an authentic way of Being.

The death of one�s parents, irrespective of the age at which it occurs, is generally regarded as a life experience of considerable significance. The last few years of an elderly person�s life are often characterized by increasing frailty, declining health and loss of independence. Responsibility for the spiritual and physical care of parents during that period is undertaken by many adult children. Current research in this area is generally informed by the requirements of social policy, which, by identifying and addressing the inherent difficulties in this so-called informal caring, is designed to support carers in the community. The research reported in this thesis represents a departure from this mode of inquiry and seeks, rather, to explore the existential aspects of caring in this particular situation, from the carer�s perspective. To achieve this objective, an existential phenomenological approach informed principally by the philosophies of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, and the adaptation of these philosophies by Schutz, Giorgi and van Manen to social science research, was developed to suit the particular requirements of the topic. In addition to the author�s autobiographic material, primary sources include conversations with five people who had been principal carers for their parents during their final illnesses. In all cases caring had ended with the parent�s death at least one year before the conversations took place. The principal secondary sources are Simone de Beauvoir�s memoir, A Very Easy Death, and Philip Roth�s account of his father�s illness and death, Patrimony: A True Story. In addition, the argument is supported throughout by reference to other literary works. From these sources a number of major existential themes, including temporality, hope, suffering, and knowing the body, have been explored in depth, in conjunction with relevant existential theories. Synthesis of these topics suggests that in this particular circumstance, for the people involved in the study, the phenomenon of caring can be understood as an unconditional engagement with the life and concerns of their parent at the end of life, and can be interpreted within an existential framework as representing an authentic way of Being.

O foco central desta tese consiste em procurar compreender um fenômeno que se verifica na atualidade em torno das imagens ultra-sonográficas fetais. O que era a princípio e em princípio uma tecnologia de imagem médica, inventada com propósitos diagnósticos, gradualmente transformou-se em objeto de consumo e lazer. Para investigar o fenômeno, a pesquisa teórica aborda como foram construídos o olhar e o observador modernos, e de que modo as tecnologias de imageamento médico incidem na construção social do corpo. Outro aspecto teórico consiste na investigação, de um ponto de vista sócio-histórico, acerca da produção da gravidez e do feto como temas médicos, e de que modo a tecnologia de ultra-som aplicada à obstetrícia está situada na articulação de vários processos: o da construção de um novo olhar, o das reconfigurações do corpo, o da medicalização da gestação e do feto e, finalmente, o da construção do feto como Pessoa antes de seu nascimento. Estudos antropológicos produzidos no exterior, ao longo da década de 1990, apontaram que o fenômeno envolvendo as imagens fetais encontrava-se inscrito nos e delimitado pelos códigos socioculturais específicos de onde ocorriam. A inexistência de pesquisas acerca do tema, no contexto brasileiro, foi o ponto de partida para uma investigação empírica. Foi realizada uma observação antropológica de ultra-sonografias obstétricas, em abordagem etnográfica, em três clínicas privadas de imagem, ao longo de 2003, no Rio de Janeiro, visando compreender como tal fenômeno se dava, de que modo era produzido e significado pelos atores e quais os desdobramentos de tais práticas, modelados por especificidades culturais locais. O trabalho de campo evidenciou que a ultra-sonografia obstétrica caracteriza-se por ser uma tecnologia de imagem interativa, em contraste com outras técnicas de imageamento médico, uma peculiaridade que propicia a construção de diversos significados a partir das imagens fetais cinzentas e esfumaçadas. A produção do prazer de ver o feto é a pedra de toque que une o útil ao agradável, e o consumo de imagens é um ponto de articulação de diversas questões expostas ao longo da tese. Pode-se pensar nesta situação como parte de um panopticismo que devassa corpos femininos e fetais, em um mesmo processo normatizando-os e construindo novos sujeitos calcados em corporalidades virtuais. / The central focus of this thesis consists of seeking to understand a phenomenon which is presently taking place in the area of fetal ultrasound images. What began as a medical imaging technology, invented for diagnostic purposes, gradually became an object of consumption and leisure. In order to investigate this phenomenon, the theoretical investigation looks at how the modern mode of seeing and the observer were constructed, and in what way technologies of medical imaging impact the social construction of the body. Another theoretical aspect consists of the investigation, from a socio-historical point of view, of the production of pregnancy and of the fetus as medical subjects, and in what way the technology of ultra-sound applied to obstetrics is situated at the nexus of various processes: the process of constructing a new mode of seeing, of the reconfigurations of the body, of the medicalization of gestation and of the fetus, and, finally, of the construction of the fetus as a person before its birth. Anthropological studies carried out abroad, during the nineties, show that the phenomenon involving fetal images was inscribed in and delimited by the specific socio-cultural codes where the imaging was done. The lack of research in this area in the Brazilian context was the point of departure for an empirical investigation. An anthropological observation of obstetric ultra-sounds, with an ethnographic approach, was carried out in three private imaging clinics, during the course of 2003, in Rio de Janeiro, with the intention of understanding how this phenomenon took place, in what way it was produced and signified by those involved, and what were the ramifications of these practices, modeled by local cultural particularities. The field work showed that obstetric ultrasonography can be characterized as an interactive imaging technique, in contrast to other medical imaging techniques, a peculiarity which lends itself to the construction of various significations having as their origin gray and hazy fetal images. The production of the pleasure of seeing the fetus is the touchstone which links the useful to the pleasing, and the consumption of images is point of connection for various questions raised in the thesis. One can think of this situation as part of a panopticism which scans female and fetal bodies, at one and the same time normatizing them and constructing new subjects shaped by virtual corporalities.

O foco central desta tese consiste em procurar compreender um fenômeno que se verifica na atualidade em torno das imagens ultra-sonográficas fetais. O que era a princípio e em princípio uma tecnologia de imagem médica, inventada com propósitos diagnósticos, gradualmente transformou-se em objeto de consumo e lazer. Para investigar o fenômeno, a pesquisa teórica aborda como foram construídos o olhar e o observador modernos, e de que modo as tecnologias de imageamento médico incidem na construção social do corpo. Outro aspecto teórico consiste na investigação, de um ponto de vista sócio-histórico, acerca da produção da gravidez e do feto como temas médicos, e de que modo a tecnologia de ultra-som aplicada à obstetrícia está situada na articulação de vários processos: o da construção de um novo olhar, o das reconfigurações do corpo, o da medicalização da gestação e do feto e, finalmente, o da construção do feto como Pessoa antes de seu nascimento. Estudos antropológicos produzidos no exterior, ao longo da década de 1990, apontaram que o fenômeno envolvendo as imagens fetais encontrava-se inscrito nos e delimitado pelos códigos socioculturais específicos de onde ocorriam. A inexistência de pesquisas acerca do tema, no contexto brasileiro, foi o ponto de partida para uma investigação empírica. Foi realizada uma observação antropológica de ultra-sonografias obstétricas, em abordagem etnográfica, em três clínicas privadas de imagem, ao longo de 2003, no Rio de Janeiro, visando compreender como tal fenômeno se dava, de que modo era produzido e significado pelos atores e quais os desdobramentos de tais práticas, modelados por especificidades culturais locais. O trabalho de campo evidenciou que a ultra-sonografia obstétrica caracteriza-se por ser uma tecnologia de imagem interativa, em contraste com outras técnicas de imageamento médico, uma peculiaridade que propicia a construção de diversos significados a partir das imagens fetais cinzentas e esfumaçadas. A produção do prazer de ver o feto é a pedra de toque que une o útil ao agradável, e o consumo de imagens é um ponto de articulação de diversas questões expostas ao longo da tese. Pode-se pensar nesta situação como parte de um panopticismo que devassa corpos femininos e fetais, em um mesmo processo normatizando-os e construindo novos sujeitos calcados em corporalidades virtuais. / The central focus of this thesis consists of seeking to understand a phenomenon which is presently taking place in the area of fetal ultrasound images. What began as a medical imaging technology, invented for diagnostic purposes, gradually became an object of consumption and leisure. In order to investigate this phenomenon, the theoretical investigation looks at how the modern mode of seeing and the observer were constructed, and in what way technologies of medical imaging impact the social construction of the body. Another theoretical aspect consists of the investigation, from a socio-historical point of view, of the production of pregnancy and of the fetus as medical subjects, and in what way the technology of ultra-sound applied to obstetrics is situated at the nexus of various processes: the process of constructing a new mode of seeing, of the reconfigurations of the body, of the medicalization of gestation and of the fetus, and, finally, of the construction of the fetus as a person before its birth. Anthropological studies carried out abroad, during the nineties, show that the phenomenon involving fetal images was inscribed in and delimited by the specific socio-cultural codes where the imaging was done. The lack of research in this area in the Brazilian context was the point of departure for an empirical investigation. An anthropological observation of obstetric ultra-sounds, with an ethnographic approach, was carried out in three private imaging clinics, during the course of 2003, in Rio de Janeiro, with the intention of understanding how this phenomenon took place, in what way it was produced and signified by those involved, and what were the ramifications of these practices, modeled by local cultural particularities. The field work showed that obstetric ultrasonography can be characterized as an interactive imaging technique, in contrast to other medical imaging techniques, a peculiarity which lends itself to the construction of various significations having as their origin gray and hazy fetal images. The production of the pleasure of seeing the fetus is the touchstone which links the useful to the pleasing, and the consumption of images is point of connection for various questions raised in the thesis. One can think of this situation as part of a panopticism which scans female and fetal bodies, at one and the same time normatizing them and constructing new subjects shaped by virtual corporalities.