Reproductive Boundaries
Psychosocial Care and Pregnancy in Switzerland
Published on 10. March 2026
Book
Hardback
186 pages
978-1-9788-4053-9 (ISBN)
Description
Reproductive Boundaries examines the shifting boundaries of prenatal care in Switzerland, focusing on the Pregnancy Support Center's innovative psychosocial model. By redefining the territory of care, the Center extends its reach beyond the medical domain, exemplifying the reproductivization of life, the increasing organization of various life aspects through a reproductive lens. The book explores how this approach challenges traditional borders between medical and psychosocial care, offering an alternative to Switzerland's heavily medicalized reproductive care. Through ethnographic insights into reproductive talk, it reveals how psychosocial advisors shift the boundaries of reproductive care, balancing support with broader state goals of reproductive governance. Set against Switzerland's history of stratified reproductive policies, the study critically examines how psychosocial care reshapes the landscape of pregnancy, raising questions about surveillance and evolving gender roles. This thought-provoking work invites readers to reconsider the limits and possibilities of care in a fragmented society.
This book is also freely available online as an open access digital edition.
This book is also freely available online as an open access digital edition.
Reviews / Votes
"Beautifully written and provocative, Reproductive Boundaries offers a powerful new understanding of reproductive governance. It presents the first authoritative social critique of psychosocial prenatal care, showing how its promise of holistic support can also deepen surveillance over women's lives. Through rich ethnographic detail, Ballif illuminates a striking paradox of care, challenging the boundaries of empathy, authority, and control in reproductive health." - Lucy van de Wiel, author of Freezing Fertility: Oocyte Cryopreservation and the Gender Politics of Aging"This book brings careful attention to the frequently overlooked topic of talk in reproduction. The focus is on how pregnant people's experiences are shaped by talk about pregnancy-not only as it is, but also expectations about what it ought to be, at least according to the professionals charged with offering psychosocial pregnancy care and support. The practices and ideas presented here are both congruent with what has been observed and documented elsewhere and distinctive to the contemporary Swiss context, making this book another important contribution to the anthropology of pregnancy." - Sallie Han, coauthor of Anthropology of Reproduction: The Basics
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New Brunswick NJ
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
6 B-W figures
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
64 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-9788-4053-9 (9781978840539)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edmee Ballif is a medical anthropologist and sociologist with a focus on public health domains. She is currently serving as a Swiss National Science Foundation senior postdoctoral researcher at the Department for Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (ISEK), University of Zurich, as an honorary research fellow in the Social Research Institute, University College London, and in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University.
Content
Foreword by Lenore Manderson ix
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
1 The Landscape of Swiss Prenatal Care 16
2 The Boundaries of Psychosocial Care 38
3 The Pregnant Mind 61
4 A Good Future: Normalizing Lives 76
5 The Pregnancy Network: Weaving a Thread Before and After Birth 95
6 Contested Borderlands: The Problem of Intimate Partner Violence 110
Conclusion: Reproductive Boundaries 124
Notes 129
Bibliography 133
Index 000
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
1 The Landscape of Swiss Prenatal Care 16
2 The Boundaries of Psychosocial Care 38
3 The Pregnant Mind 61
4 A Good Future: Normalizing Lives 76
5 The Pregnancy Network: Weaving a Thread Before and After Birth 95
6 Contested Borderlands: The Problem of Intimate Partner Violence 110
Conclusion: Reproductive Boundaries 124
Notes 129
Bibliography 133
Index 000