The Empty Cradle of Democracy: Sex, Abortion, and Nationalism in Modern Greece b

Description: FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE The Empty Cradle of Democracy by Alexandra Halkias An ethnographic study that shows how similar national and cultural beliefs about gender, sexuality, and Greekness are the basis of both the public condemnation of abortion and its prevalence in Greece. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description During the 1990s, between 150,000 and 400,000 abortions were performed annually in Greece. At the same time, the low birth rate - approximately 110,000 births each year in a population of more than ten million people - was considered a national crisis. It was extensively covered in the news media and scrutinized by a specially created committee in the Greek parliament. The Empty Cradle of Democracy explores the paradox of a high incidence of abortion in a country explicitly concerned with its declining birth rate and examines why abortion is a preferable alternative to the use of contraceptives for many Greek women. Alexandra Halkias argues that abortion is rendered more "natural" by the same understandings of what it means to be Greek that underlie concerns about the diminishing "national stock." Halkias combines fieldwork she conducted at medical clinics in Athens in the mid-1990s with analyses of how the Greek media covered abortion and the declining birth rate during the same period. She observed more than 400 genealogical examinations at a state family planning clinic, and she interviewed 120 women who had had two or more abortions.Halkias shows how intimate personal decisions regarding abortion and the national preoccupation with the low birth rate connect to ideas of race, religion, passion, resistance, and the fraught encounter between modernity and tradition. The Empty Cradle of Democracy is an illuminating look at how the nation permeates the body and how understandings of gender and sexuality complicate the nation-building projects of late modernity. Back Cover "Alexandra Halkias probes the tension between the male-centered, hegemonic assumptions of European nationalism and the representation of the nation as a female body (and the female body as a national property) with an adroit irony leavened by perceptive compassion. At the heart of the paradox of modern Greece, cast as both the despised backwater and the glorious cradle of the West, she incisively dissects a concomitant paradox: insistent calls to fill the cradle coexist with a remarkably high rate of abortion. This is politically forthright cultural analysis grounded in intimate and yet also wide-ranging observation."-Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University Author Biography Alexandra Halkias is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Panteion University in Athens, Greece. Table of Contents Acknowledgents xiIntroduction 1Part 1. The Agoras of Agon 1. Setting the Stage: Athens, Greece, Fantasy, and History 192. Stage Left: Greek Women 353. Center Stage: What is Greece? 534. Stage Right: The Demografiko 77Part 2. In Context, in Contests 5. In the Operating Room: On Cows, Greece, and the Smoking Fetus 896. Give Birth for Greece! Abortion and Nation in the Greek Press 113Part 3. Sexing the Nation 7. Navigating the Night 1358. The Impossible Dream: The Couple as Mother 2079. Abortion, Pain, and Agency 23510. Reprosexuality and the Modern Citizen Face the Specter of Turkey 29111. A Critical Cartography of the Demografikos Greece 319Epilogue: Theory and Policy 345Notes 349References 381 Review "The question of Greek womens ready use of abortion and their failure to use other methods of birth control is one that for some time has intrigued anthropologists. Alexandra Halkiass arguments about the naturalness of abortion and the relationship of sexuality and national identity are fascinating." Jill Dubisch, author of In a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender, and Politics at a Greek Island Shrine "Alexandra Halkias probes the tension between the male-centered, hegemonic assumptions of European nationalism and the representation of the nation as a female body (and the female body as a national property) with an adroit irony leavened by perceptive compassion. At the heart of the paradox of modern Greece, cast as both the despised backwater and the glorious cradle of the West, she incisively dissects a concomitant paradox: insistent calls to fill the cradle coexist with a remarkably high rate of abortion. This is politically forthright cultural analysis grounded in intimate and yet also wide-ranging observation."--Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University Promotional An ethnographic study that shows how similar national and cultural beliefs about gender, sexuality, and Greekness are the basis of both the public condemnation of abortion and its prevalence in Greece. Review Quote "The question of Greek womens ready use of abortion and their failure to use other methods of birth control is one that for some time has intrigued anthropologists. Alexandra Halkiass arguments about the naturalness of abortion and the relationship of sexuality and national identity are fascinating." Jill Dubisch, author of In a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender, and Politics at a Greek Island Shrine"Alexandra Halkias probes the tension between the male-centered, hegemonic assumptions of European nationalism and the representation of the nation as a female body (and the female body as a national property) with an adroit irony leavened by perceptive compassion. At the heart of the paradox of modern Greece, cast as both the despised backwater and the glorious cradle of the West, she incisively dissects a concomitant paradox: insistent calls to fill the cradle coexist with a remarkably high rate of abortion. This is politically forthright cultural analysis grounded in intimate and yet also wide-ranging observation."-Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University Promotional "Headline" An ethnographic study that shows how similar national and cultural beliefs about gender, sexuality, and Greekness are the basis of both the public condemnation of abortion and its prevalence in Greece. Details ISBN0822333112 Author Alexandra Halkias Pages 432 Language English ISBN-10 0822333112 ISBN-13 9780822333111 Media Book Format Hardcover Year 2004 Imprint Duke University Press Subtitle Sex, Abortion, and Nationalism in Modern Greece Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States Short Title EMPTY CRADLE OF DEMOCRACY Publisher Duke University Press Birth 1965 DOI 10.1604/9780822333111 UK Release Date 2004-09-24 AU Release Date 2004-09-24 NZ Release Date 2004-09-24 US Release Date 2004-09-24 Publication Date 2004-09-24 DEWEY 363.4609495 Illustrations 21 illustrations, 3 tables Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! 30 DAY RETURN POLICY No questions asked, 30 day returns! FREE DELIVERY No matter where you are in the UK, delivery is free. 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