Globalization and Reproductive Tourism in the Arab World

全球化与阿拉伯世界的生殖旅游

• 批准号: 0907901
• 负责人: Marcia Inhorn
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-09 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0907901&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Globalization; Reproductive; Tourism; Arab; World

This three-year study examines the new global phenomenon of "reproductive tourism," defined as travel in the pursuit of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), usually from one country to another. Six factors promoting reproductive tourism have been cited in the literature. These include religious prohibitions, lack of expertise and supplies, safety, discrimination against certain categories of individuals, shortages and waiting lists, and costs. However, these causes of reproductive tourism remain conjectural, as this phenomenon has never been studied empirically. Thus, the proposed study is the first of its kind to investigate the new global phenomenon of reproductive tourism on an empirical level. This study will investigate and compare reproductive tourism in two highly mobile, migrant communities in the Arab world: 1) the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the current tourist capital of the Middle East; and 2) "Arab Detroit," the largest Arab ethnic enclave in North America and the so-called capital of Arab America. Both of these sites are home to ART centers that cater primarily to Muslim populations. ART center clientele include migrants who have settled in these communities for economic and political reasons, only to discover that they are infertile, as well as "reproductive tourists" who travel from distant countries with the intention of receiving medical advice, the latest technologies, and, in some cases, donor gametes.In each site, data will be collected to test four major hypotheses concerning: 1) the causes of reproductive tourism; 2) Islamic attitudes toward bodily commodification and human gamete donation; 3) arenas of constraint on ART-seeking; and 4) gender and marital relations, as they affect and are affected by reproductive tourism. These domains of inquiry are important, given unique features of reproductive tourism in the Arab world: for example, a Sunni Muslim ban on third-party gamete donation versus recent encouragement of donor technologies in Shi'a Islam. In addition, the Arab Gulf is a particularly interesting site of reproductive tourism, given its oil wealth, large expatriate labor force, and high rates of arranged marriage, consanguinity, and polygyny. This stands in contrast to Arab Detroit, where a significant portion of the approximately 400,000 Arab residents:, including many recent war refugees from Lebanon and Iraq, endure impoverished lives, yet require reproductive health services. This research is the first of its kind to examine the growing global phenomenon of reproductive tourism within the Arab world and also generally. As such, it will contribute to multiple fields of study, including medical anthropology, the anthropology of globalization, science and technology studies, gender studies, and Middle Eastern studies in a post-September 11th, war-in-Iraq era. In addition, the empirical findings of this research are of great importance to social policy, given increasing calls for legislation of ARTs and reproductive tourism on a global level. This study can provide insights into the experiences and concerns of reproductive tourists themselves, thereby shedding light on a world of global reproductive tourism that is burgeoning, but still shrouded in mystery.

这项为期三年的研究研究了“生殖旅游业”的新全球现象，该现象通常是在追求辅助生殖技术（艺术）的旅行，通常是从一个国家到另一个国家。文献中引用了促进生殖旅游业的六个因素。 其中包括宗教禁令，缺乏专业知识和供应，安全性，对某些类别的个人的歧视，短缺和等待名单以及成本。 但是，这些繁殖旅游业的原因仍然是猜想的，因为这种现象从未经过经验研究。因此，拟议的研究是第一个在经验水平上研究新的全球繁殖旅游现象的研究。 这项研究将调查和比较阿拉伯世界两个高度流动的移民社区的生殖旅游：1）阿拉伯联合酋长国（UAE），阿拉伯联合酋长国（UAE），现任中东的旅游首都； 2）“阿拉伯底特律”，北美最大的阿拉伯族裔飞地，也是阿拉伯美国所谓的首都。 这两个地点都是主要迎合穆斯林人口的艺术中心的所在地。艺术中心的客户包括出于经济和政治原因定居在这些社区中的移民，只是发现他们是不育的，以及从遥远国家旅行的“生殖游客”，目的是接受医疗建议，最新技术，在某些情况下，在每个地点，在每个地点，都将收集到四个主要的假设。 2）伊斯兰对身体商品化和人配子捐赠的态度； 3）对寻求艺术的限制舞台； 4）性别和婚姻关系，因为它们影响并受到生殖旅游业的影响。考虑到阿拉伯世界中生殖旅游业的独特特征，这些探究领域很重要：例如，逊尼派穆斯林禁止第三方配子捐赠与最近在什叶派伊斯兰教捐助技术的鼓励。 此外，鉴于其石油财富，庞大的外籍劳动力以及较高的安排婚姻，血缘关系和一夫妻制，阿拉伯湾是一个特别有趣的繁殖旅游场所。这与阿拉伯底特律相反，阿拉伯底特律大约有40万阿拉伯居民中有很大一部分：包括黎巴嫩和伊拉克最近的许多战争难民，忍受了贫穷的生活，但需要生殖卫生服务。这项研究是第一个研究阿拉伯世界内部繁殖旅游业不断增长的全球繁殖现象。 因此，它将为多个研究领域，包括医学人类学，全球化，科学与技术研究，性别研究和中东研究的人类学，在9月11日之后的伊拉克战争时代。此外，考虑到越来越多的呼吁在全球范围内宣布艺术和生殖旅游业，这项研究的经验发现对社会政策至关重要。 这项研究可以提供对生殖游客本身的经历和关注的见解，从而揭示了一个蓬勃发展的全球生殖旅游世界，但仍然笼罩着神秘的世界。