(In)Fertility in South Asia

"The absence of conversations regarding the lived experiences of childlessness and infertility in policy discourse points towards the continued importance of treating women as population targets. Engaging with (in)fertility through narratives and qualitative data privileges and highlights the need for inclusive discussions on technology and the socio-medical management of fertility life spans." - Dr Anindita Majumdar, Guest Editor of the Special Collection “Women’s health cannot be reduced solely to maternal health. Mothers are just one group within a diverse population of women. Non-mother women should be recognised as subjects of analysis and have equitable access to healthcare services, particularly in the Global South.” - Prof Papreen Nahar, Guest Editor of the Special Collection In this special collection we engage with the idea of “(in)fertility”—encapsulating stages of being fertile and infertile through primary and secondary infertility, or through premature menopause, or through chronic reproductive ailments impacting the desire for parenthood—through qualitative, ethnographic case studies from South Asia. The special collection seeks to document experiential navigations of stalled “reproductive desires” especially when enforced through pronatalist or antinatalist policies, socio-cultural rhetoric, and biomedical interventions. We are hoping to contribute to the conversation on population and fertility decline from the vantage point of infertility and how South Asian economies and societies are engaging with mapping and managing fertility through the intervention of ARTs, and other forms of biomedical interventions. Such a focus is still missing from conversations on South Asia, even though research emerging from the region suggests otherwise.