Much of the public debate surrounding new technologies and techniques in assisted reproductive technology (ART) is caught up in the speculative nature of imagined futures of 'science-fictive' proportions. This thesis, by contrast, examines a 'naturalized' ART donor insemination, discussing the manner in which couples (and occasionally single women) construct distributive and kinship networks as they move through the processes of fertility treatment and the selection of donor sperm. / This thesis follows a marketing trail for sperm from scientific journal, to the web, to conference floor. In doing so it examines and contrasts the information that is offered by companies distributing donor sperm and drawn upon by those making selective choices. It argues that the process of donor gamete selection---as mediated by Internet technologies---is characterized by a juxtapositioning of two trends: 'eugenic' promise, and expansion kinship networks based on 'like kinds'. This paper strives to explore these desires, beliefs and motivations at play in the commodification, distribution and consumption observed in the online marketing and sale of gametes. / This thesis contributes to the body of anthropological theorizing on gifting and commodification, and kinship, by arguing that donor sperm---in the context of current exchange practices---challenges a dichotomous categorization of gift/commodity, and is best understood as a hybrid item of exchange. Following Appadurai, the commodity candidacy of donor sperm, and the context of its commodification is explored, noting the manner in which kinship networks are extended and negotiated in the process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.31133 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Prest, Janalyn. |
| Contributors | Lock, Margaret (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001806892, proquestno: MQ70313, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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