Books and Edited Volumes

Consuming Motherhood: Consuming Motherhood addresses the provocative question of how motherhood and consumption — as ideologies and as patterns of social action — mutually shape and constitute each other in contemporary North American and European social life. Ideologically, motherhood and consumption are often constructed in opposition to each other, with motherhood standing in as a naturalized social relation that is thought to be uniquely free of the calculating instrumentality that dominates commercial relations. Yet, in social life, motherhood and consumption are inseparable. Whether shopping for children's clothing or childbirth services, or making decisions about adopting children, becoming a mother (and maternal practice more generally) is deeply influenced by consumption. How can the relationship between motherhood and consumption be revealed, and critically analyzed? Consuming Motherhood brings together a group of sociologists, anthropologists, and religious studies scholars to address this question through carefully grounded enthnographic studies. This insightful book reveals how mothers negotiate the contradictory forces that position them as immune from and the target of consumerist tendencies in contemporary global society.; Taylor, Janelle S., Layne, Linda L., Wozniak, Danielle F., eds. Consuming Motherhood. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers UP, 2004.

Motherhood Lost A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America: Purchase from Amazon.com.; Layne, Linda L. Motherhood Lost. New York and London: Routledge, 2003.

Transformative Motherhood On Giving and Getting in a Consumer Culture: In a rich series of ethnographic case studies, Transformative Motherhood intimately conveys the experiences of women in the United States who, in each case, have reproductive encounters that do not match up with cultural standards. From women who choose to become surrogate, foster, or adoptive mothers, to other who give birth to children with disabilities or have had a pregnancy loss, all creatively meet the challenges posed by their particular mothering experiences. It is often the language of giving and getting, so prominent in a consumer culture, that these women use to make sense of their situation.; In the process, Transformative Motherhood redefines conventional understandings of motherhood, the mother/child relationship, and the role of biology and the law in determining what constitutes a family.; Purchase from Amazon.com.; Layne, Linda L., ed. Transformative Motherhood: On Giving and Getting in a Consumer Culture. New York: New York UP, 1999.

Anthropological Approaches in Science and Technology Studies

Home and Homeland The Dialogics of Tribal and National Identities in Jordan: In this provocative examination of collective identity in Jordan, Linda Layne challenges long-held Western assumptions that Arabs belong to easily recognizable corporate social groups. Who is a "true" Jordanian? Who is a "true" Bedouin? These questions, according to Layne, are examples of a kind of pigeonholing that has distorted the reality of Jordanian national politics. In developing an alternate approach, she shows that the fluid social identities of Jordan emerge from an ongoing dialogue among tribespeople, members of the intelligentsia, Hashemite rulers, and Western social scientists.; Many commentators on social identity in the Middle East limit their studies to the village level, but Layne's goal is to discover how the identity-building processes of the locality and of the nation condition each other. She finds that the tribes create their own cultural "homes" through a dialogue with official nationalist rhetoric and Jordanian urbanites, while King Hussein, in turn, maintains the idea of the "homeland" in ways that are powerfully influenced by the tribespeople. The identities so formed resemble the shifting, irregular shapes of postmodernist landscapes—but Hussein and the Jordanian people are also beginning to use a classically modernist linear narrative to describe themselves. Layne maintains, however, that even with this change, Jordanian identities will remain resistant to all-or-nothing descriptions.; Purchase from Amazon.com.; Layne, Linda L. Home and Homeland: The Dialogics of Tribal and National Identities in Jordan. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1994.

Knowledge and Society: Science, Technology, and Culture

Elections in the Middle East Implications of Recent Trends: The far-reaching impact of the latest parliamentary elections in the Middle East is examined in this volume. After an introduction that analyzes the trends illustrated by the elections and their implications for regional stability, the book discusses recent elections in Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Kuwait. Individual chapters analyze the influence of pre-1980 patterns in the party system and voting on Turkey's 1983 election; the balloting in Egypt's 1984 election as a turning point toward democratization in contemporary Egyptian politics; the significance of Israel's 1984 election in view of the relatively small differences in objectives between Israel's right-wing Likud and the centrist Labor party; the role of traditional tribal influences and new political factions in Jordan's 1984 elections; and the influence of newly emerging social groups in Kuwait's 1985 election. The contributers discuss differences in party programs and platforms, the extent of control by elites, and the relevance of the elections to crucial economic and social problems and political stability.; Layne, Linda L., ed. Elections in the Middle East: Implications of Recent Trends. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1987.

Articles

Unhappy Endings A Feminist Reappraisal of the Women's Health Movement from the Vantage of Pregnancy Loss: Read this article in PDF format.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support A New, Feminist, American, Patient Movement?: Read this article in PDF format.

The Cultural Fix: An Anthropological Contribution to Science and Technology Studies: Read this article in PDF format.

In Search of Community Tales of Pregnancy Loss in Three Toxically Assaulted U.S. Communities: Read this article in PDF format.

Press

Schools Wrestle with Student Ethics Union College Considers Rules of Conduct; Many RPI Students Appear Resistant to Idea: Appeared in the Times Union, Monday, January 22, 2007.; Read this article on the web.