Comments on: New Reproductive Health Technologies in Egypt http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Fri, 25 May 2012 20:10:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Reproductive Health Technologies in Egypt at SM | Somatosphere http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-708159 Reproductive Health Technologies in Egypt at SM | Somatosphere Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:17:11 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-708159 [...] at Savage Minds Lisa Wynn has posted the first of several guest posts on a new project on reproductive health [...] [...] at Savage Minds Lisa Wynn has posted the first of several guest posts on a new project on reproductive health [...]

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]]> By: mariamarc http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-604250 mariamarc Fri, 22 May 2009 06:47:53 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-604250 Neat project! I think MTBradley’s inclination to ask if Egyptian women would use miso if awareness of its qualities were better disseminated is a good one. Neat project! I think MTBradley’s inclination to ask if Egyptian women would use miso if awareness of its qualities were better disseminated is a good one.

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]]> By: Risa http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-557078 Risa Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:38:30 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-557078 Neat project! I think MTBradley's inclination to ask *if* Egyptian women would use miso if awareness of its qualities were better disseminated is a good one. This kind of question helps one step back and consider how Egyptian women define and weigh things like 'cost,' 'risk,' 'efficacy,' and 'safety' in their decisions for pregnancy termination. The early history of misoprostol in Brazil suggests how central these questions might be for your investigations. In the mid-80s in Brazil, a battle raged over the meaning of cost, safety and efficacy miso offered (or didn't offer) women and society, ultimately resulting in federal restrictions on access, sale and production of miso, which pushed it to the black market. So what are the Egyptian womens' perceptions of the benefits, drawbacks, and effects of misoprostol v. surgical abortion? These perceptions can begin to unpack why miso hasn't been seized more popularly. On the topic of risk: for a comparative project, Elise Andaya has done fascinating research in Cuba on calculating risk in abortion. I look forward to your findings! Neat project! I think MTBradley’s inclination to ask *if* Egyptian women would use miso if awareness of its qualities were better disseminated is a good one. This kind of question helps one step back and consider how Egyptian women define and weigh things like ‘cost,’ ‘risk,’ ‘efficacy,’ and ‘safety’ in their decisions for pregnancy termination. The early history of misoprostol in Brazil suggests how central these questions might be for your investigations. In the mid-80s in Brazil, a battle raged over the meaning of cost, safety and efficacy miso offered (or didn’t offer) women and society, ultimately resulting in federal restrictions on access, sale and production of miso, which pushed it to the black market. So what are the Egyptian womens’ perceptions of the benefits, drawbacks, and effects of misoprostol v. surgical abortion? These perceptions can begin to unpack why miso hasn’t been seized more popularly.

On the topic of risk: for a comparative project, Elise Andaya has done fascinating research in Cuba on calculating risk in abortion. I look forward to your findings!

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]]> By: Acai http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-549080 Acai Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:45:35 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-549080 I am a volunteer who helps folks with Medicare navigate the wonders of Medicare Part D - the drug plan. I am a volunteer who helps folks with Medicare navigate the wonders of Medicare Part D – the drug plan.

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]]> By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-547946 L.L. Wynn Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:16:31 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-547946 Simon, fascinating suggestion, I'll have to do some more investigating, thanks! And Kerim, speaking of spam, you know as my colleague Hosam Moustafa and I have been talking back and forth about this topic via e-mail, we discovered that any time we wrote e-mails to each other with "Viagra" in the text, they never arrived. We now have to write about "V***** and "C****s." Simon, fascinating suggestion, I’ll have to do some more investigating, thanks!

And Kerim, speaking of spam, you know as my colleague Hosam Moustafa and I have been talking back and forth about this topic via e-mail, we discovered that any time we wrote e-mails to each other with “Viagra” in the text, they never arrived. We now have to write about “V***** and “C****s.”

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]]> By: Kerim http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-547669 Kerim Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:48:31 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-547669 @Simon, I'm amazed that your comment *isn't* spam. @Simon, I’m amazed that your comment *isn’t* spam.

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]]> By: Simon http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-547463 Simon Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:56:18 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-547463 Re: Viagra faucets. It's unlikely this is actually related to Pfizer pharmaceutical product marketing. More likely, Viagra is also a brand name manufacturer of plumbing equipment, as in Kohler toilets. Just coincidence. Pfizer trademarks only extend to drugs and things a consumer public could confuse Pfizer products. Viagra may have Sanskrit roots in strength/tiger/vitality. Or it could Latinate, like the way. Both would make sense for copper plumbing or piping of water. Re: Viagra faucets.
It’s unlikely this is actually related to Pfizer pharmaceutical product marketing. More likely, Viagra is also a brand name manufacturer of plumbing equipment, as in Kohler toilets. Just coincidence. Pfizer trademarks only extend to drugs and things a consumer public could confuse Pfizer products.
Viagra may have Sanskrit roots in strength/tiger/vitality.
Or it could Latinate, like the way. Both would make sense for copper plumbing or piping of water.

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]]> By: L.L. Wynn http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-543686 L.L. Wynn Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:15:37 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-543686 Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm and for thinking that this doesn't need more justification than I've already offered to sound like a worthwhile research project. Strong, yes there certainly is a lot of pressure right now on universities in Australia to come up with commercial applications of research; it's a larger part of a neoliberalization of education in Australia that reconceptualizes students as clients and industry, rather than government, as potential "partners" i.e. funders (and beneficiaries) of research. As in, "I met with the clients today, and they didn't like the grade I gave them..." MTBradley, I LOVE your story about Morgan. And as for interdisciplinary partnerships, yes actually I collaborate regularly with a French epidemiologist and American public health types/demographers and physicians. (My postdoc was in a demography/public health department where I was the only anthropologist.) They seem quite enthusiastic about this type of research because they often deal with quantitative data but don't have the qualitative research to fill out the numbers and make them speak. But then I have encountered other demographers who find the qualitative approach verging on irrelevant because it's not generalizable. Chad, you've raised some good points, many thanks for your feedback -- I'll address the EC / sildenafil comparison soon! And yes, it's a big project, and I have contemplated cutting down this project to look at just one technology, but I can't resist how interesting it is to make comparisons between technologies. I've got material to compare male and female technologies, surgical procedures and pharmaceutical products, more or less "respectable" technologies and one that is considered wholly dubious. I'll be at it for years I expect. Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm and for thinking that this doesn’t need more justification than I’ve already offered to sound like a worthwhile research project.

Strong, yes there certainly is a lot of pressure right now on universities in Australia to come up with commercial applications of research; it’s a larger part of a neoliberalization of education in Australia that reconceptualizes students as clients and industry, rather than government, as potential “partners” i.e. funders (and beneficiaries) of research. As in, “I met with the clients today, and they didn’t like the grade I gave them…”

MTBradley, I LOVE your story about Morgan. And as for interdisciplinary partnerships, yes actually I collaborate regularly with a French epidemiologist and American public health types/demographers and physicians. (My postdoc was in a demography/public health department where I was the only anthropologist.) They seem quite enthusiastic about this type of research because they often deal with quantitative data but don’t have the qualitative research to fill out the numbers and make them speak. But then I have encountered other demographers who find the qualitative approach verging on irrelevant because it’s not generalizable.

Chad, you’ve raised some good points, many thanks for your feedback — I’ll address the EC / sildenafil comparison soon! And yes, it’s a big project, and I have contemplated cutting down this project to look at just one technology, but I can’t resist how interesting it is to make comparisons between technologies. I’ve got material to compare male and female technologies, surgical procedures and pharmaceutical products, more or less “respectable” technologies and one that is considered wholly dubious. I’ll be at it for years I expect.

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]]> By: Chad Nilep http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-543423 Chad Nilep Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:36:28 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-543423 This is indeed very interesting. But you seem to have laid out (questions to be addressed by) multiple projects. Most interesting to me are the questions of how individuals - especially women, especially Muslim women - choose reproductive technologies such as birth control or abortion methods. As MTBradley asks, "[Even] if Egyptian women knew about Misoprostol [would they] prefer it to illegal surgical procedures?" Such questions have both anthropological interest and potential impact on public health. No doubt equally interesting are the questions you raise in the post about how religious practitioners interact with medical practitioners, and how they gather the information necessary to make legal / religious decisions. Questions of gender, as well as class, religious identity, etc. are suggested by the observation that Sildenafil, as well as the commodified word 'Viagra' are in wide circulation while emergency contraception is not considered commercially viable. These questions seem generalizable - or at least comparable - to similar questions surrounding gender and capital elsewhere in the world. But that looks like at least three projects to me. And all I know about RHT in Egypt is what I read in the blogs. This is indeed very interesting. But you seem to have laid out (questions to be addressed by) multiple projects. Most interesting to me are the questions of how individuals – especially women, especially Muslim women – choose reproductive technologies such as birth control or abortion methods. As MTBradley asks, “[Even] if Egyptian women knew about Misoprostol [would they] prefer it to illegal surgical procedures?” Such questions have both anthropological interest and potential impact on public health.

No doubt equally interesting are the questions you raise in the post about how religious practitioners interact with medical practitioners, and how they gather the information necessary to make legal / religious decisions.

Questions of gender, as well as class, religious identity, etc. are suggested by the observation that Sildenafil, as well as the commodified word ‘Viagra’ are in wide circulation while emergency contraception is not considered commercially viable. These questions seem generalizable – or at least comparable – to similar questions surrounding gender and capital elsewhere in the world.

But that looks like at least three projects to me. And all I know about RHT in Egypt is what I read in the blogs.

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]]> By: Strong http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-543411 Strong Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:50:02 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-543411 LL -- this work is very important. The problem of expert knowledge(s) is crucial in all contemporary societies and your triangulation of expert between the 'religious,' the 'medical,' and the 'scientific,' I think defines a complex field in which to explore the relevant issues. I am irked that someone would ask you a question leading you to question the importance of this research. I note that Professor Goldys's bio points to commercial applications of her research. Is this what *she* meant by important? That at 'Phase 0 phase' of your research you should be thinking of commercial applications? But even here, you are covered, as big pharma will no doubt be interested in what you find out! LL — this work is very important. The problem of expert knowledge(s) is crucial in all contemporary societies and your triangulation of expert between the ‘religious,’ the ‘medical,’ and the ‘scientific,’ I think defines a complex field in which to explore the relevant issues. I am irked that someone would ask you a question leading you to question the importance of this research. I note that Professor Goldys’s bio points to commercial applications of her research. Is this what *she* meant by important? That at ‘Phase 0 phase’ of your research you should be thinking of commercial applications? But even here, you are covered, as big pharma will no doubt be interested in what you find out!

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]]> By: barbara caputo http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-542609 barbara caputo Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:33:34 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-542609 I found really interesting this research, in that I'm carrying on a reaserch among Egyptian women in Italy focussing the practice of khitn, the female circumcision. So I'm interested in the way representations and practices concerning sexuality, reproductive health, intertwining with religious representations and interpretations, are currently developing in Egypt. I would really interested in exchaging informations, thank you for the interesting posts, I'm waiting for reading the next! I found really interesting this research, in that I’m carrying on a reaserch among Egyptian women in Italy focussing the practice of khitn, the female circumcision. So I’m interested in the way representations and practices concerning sexuality, reproductive health, intertwining with religious representations and interpretations, are currently developing in Egypt. I would really interested in exchaging informations, thank you for the interesting posts, I’m waiting for reading the next!

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]]> By: MTBradley http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-542389 MTBradley Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:18:00 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-542389 When Morgan finished a draft of Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity he got a chorus of “So what?”s. As someone fascinated with kinship that story always makes me feel a little better when people give me blank stares. How it makes you feel in regards to your own research depends a lot on your opinion of Morgan, I suppose. Have you approached many MPHs, demographers, or epidemiologists about your research? It would be interesting to know if what they see as interesting about your work matches up with what anthropologists see as interesting about it. While perhaps not enough to hang a major research project upon, I find your example of abortion via use of Misoprostol vs. surgical procedure interesting. It strikes me as an interesting case study of “What shapes individuals’ decisions to access medical care?” Russ Bernard uses the wonderful term educational model of social change to refer to what he (rightly, I believe) sees as one of our most misguided common sense beliefs, that if we impart enlightening knowledge to people they will then go on to utilize it to improve their lives. Is it altogether clear that even if Egyptian women knew about Misoprostol that they would prefer it to illegal surgical procedures? When Morgan finished a draft of Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity he got a chorus of “So what?”s. As someone fascinated with kinship that story always makes me feel a little better when people give me blank stares. How it makes you feel in regards to your own research depends a lot on your opinion of Morgan, I suppose.

Have you approached many MPHs, demographers, or epidemiologists about your research? It would be interesting to know if what they see as interesting about your work matches up with what anthropologists see as interesting about it.

While perhaps not enough to hang a major research project upon, I find your example of abortion via use of Misoprostol vs. surgical procedure interesting. It strikes me as an interesting case study of “What shapes individuals’ decisions to access medical care?” Russ Bernard uses the wonderful term educational model of social change to refer to what he (rightly, I believe) sees as one of our most misguided common sense beliefs, that if we impart enlightening knowledge to people they will then go on to utilize it to improve their lives. Is it altogether clear that even if Egyptian women knew about Misoprostol that they would prefer it to illegal surgical procedures?

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]]> By: Luke Corbin http://savageminds.org/2008/12/09/new-reproductive-health-technologies-in-egypt/comment-page-1/#comment-542349 Luke Corbin Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:54:37 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1419#comment-542349 I'm really looking forward to the rest of your posts. I know nothing about anthropology and academia, but I love reading the various anthropology blogs, and I hope you get your grant. I’m really looking forward to the rest of your posts. I know nothing about anthropology and academia, but I love reading the various anthropology blogs, and I hope you get your grant.

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