Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Ruptured: Reproductive Loss, Bodily Boundaries, Time and the Life Course in Archaeology

Gowland, R.L.

Ruptured: Reproductive Loss, Bodily Boundaries, Time and the Life Course in Archaeology Thumbnail


Authors



Contributors

SIan Halcrow
Editor

Abstract

The concept of the bounded body is powerfully resonant within the post-industrialised Western world; it is performed and reinforced through cultural practices which observe the maintenance of bodily space and the delineation of individual bodies. Recent research on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, epigenetics and microchimerism has increasingly exposed the fragility of this construct. As feminist scholars have stated, the pregnant body represents the ultimate boundary transgression: the body within a body. This chapter aims to provide a theoretical exploration of the maternal body, the interconnectedness of mothers and infants in relation to bodily boundaries, and the impact of reproductive loss (miscarriage/neonatal death). Approximately 15–25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and infant mortality rates in the past are estimated at 25–30%. Reproductive loss brings violent rupture to a woman’s sense of bodily boundaries, both literally, in that she is unable to contain the foetus, but also because she is required to reconfigure her expected self. Up to 40% of mothers who miscarry suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 3 months afterwards. This rupture of the infant-mother nexus creates social anxieties concerning the boundedness of both infants and mothers that have hitherto-unexplored repercussions for burial practice and bioarchaeological interpretations.

Citation

Gowland, R. (2019). Ruptured: Reproductive Loss, Bodily Boundaries, Time and the Life Course in Archaeology. In R. Gowland, & S. Halcrow (Eds.), The mother-infant nexus in anthropology : small beginnings, significant outcomes (257-274). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_14

Online Publication Date Oct 26, 2019
Publication Date Oct 26, 2019
Deposit Date Dec 12, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Publisher Springer Verlag
Pages 257-274
Series Title Bioarchaeology and social theory
Book Title The mother-infant nexus in anthropology : small beginnings, significant outcomes.
ISBN 9783030273927
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_14

Files

Accepted Book Chapter (912 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an book chapter published in The mother-infant nexus in anthropology : small beginnings, significant outcomes. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_14




You might also like



Downloadable Citations