Assisted Reproduction: Politics, Ethics and Anthropological Futures

Anthropological literature on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has burgeoned in the forty years since IVF emerged as a potential solution to childlessness. A lexicon has consolidated, and key sets of debates have been identified. Chief among these are questions of kinship, the intersection of technologies and local moral worlds, and the circulation of gametes and technological know-how. The recent publication of five books in the Berghahn series on Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality offers an opportunity to think about new affordances and futures for research. We review the texts and suggest several strands for research, concluding that anthropological objects do not become saturated by our knowledge of them and that ARTs will remain fertile ground for thought.