Hardback : HK$1,000.00
Cristina Archetti started researching childlessness after being diagnosed with "unexplained infertility". She soon discovered that, although involuntary childlessness affects an increasing number of women and men across the world, this topic is shrouded taboo and shame. This book is both a first-person reflection about the existential questions posed by involuntary childlessness and a readable account of the way the silence surrounding this topic is socially and politically constructed.
Revealing the invisible mechanisms that, from the microscopic details of everyday life to policy, make up the structure of silence around childlessness, Archetti demonstrates what it means not to have children in a society that is organized around families. Through a prose that mixes analysis, excerpts of interviews, media fragments, and evocative writing, she develops a new language of feeling-in-the-body fit for the twenty-first century and exposes the devastating effects infertility has on relationships, identity, health and well-being, in societies that fetishize parenthood.
Childlessness in the Age of Communication draws upon a range of disciplines and fields including sociology, health, gender and sexuality studies, communication, politics and anthropology. It is a book for all those interested in childlessness and innovative qualitative research methodologies.
Show moreCristina Archetti started researching childlessness after being diagnosed with "unexplained infertility". She soon discovered that, although involuntary childlessness affects an increasing number of women and men across the world, this topic is shrouded taboo and shame. This book is both a first-person reflection about the existential questions posed by involuntary childlessness and a readable account of the way the silence surrounding this topic is socially and politically constructed.
Revealing the invisible mechanisms that, from the microscopic details of everyday life to policy, make up the structure of silence around childlessness, Archetti demonstrates what it means not to have children in a society that is organized around families. Through a prose that mixes analysis, excerpts of interviews, media fragments, and evocative writing, she develops a new language of feeling-in-the-body fit for the twenty-first century and exposes the devastating effects infertility has on relationships, identity, health and well-being, in societies that fetishize parenthood.
Childlessness in the Age of Communication draws upon a range of disciplines and fields including sociology, health, gender and sexuality studies, communication, politics and anthropology. It is a book for all those interested in childlessness and innovative qualitative research methodologies.
Show moreIntroduction: Breaking the Silence Part 1: Unravelling Silence Section 1. T-word: The Story Behind my Story Section 2. The Body and Communication Section 3. What My Story Brings to the Debate Section 4. Silence, Deconstructed Section 5. Revealing the Unspeakable: Finding a Different Language Part 2: Life Journeys Folder 1. “About Me”? Folder 2. Relationships Folder 3. Identity Folder 4. Objects and the Body Folder 5. Media, Social Wallpaper and the Cycle of Silence Folder 6. Narratives I: An Old Story Begins to Fall Apart Folder 7. Politics: Why Childlessness is Everyone’s Business Folder 8. Narratives II: What It Takes to Weave a New Story Conclusion: Roadmap for the Foreseeable Futures
Cristina Archetti is Professor of Political Communication and Journalism at the University of Oslo, Norway.
"A powerful text. Archetti skilfully blends a deeply personal story
with robust enquiry into the meaning and experience of involuntary
childlessness. Weaving together personal diaries, interviews,
poetry and analysis of contemporary media Childlessness in the age
of communication: Deconstructing silence offers an innovative
format that is eminently readable. The book illuminates an
otherwise hidden topic and as a result it will be of interest to
researchers, practitioners and those experiencing involuntary
childlessness alike." — Dr Esmée Hanna, Centre for Reproduction
Research, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. "Cristina
Archetti’s book melds together the personal and political to
produce an academic tour-de-force which will put the study of
involuntary childlessness firmly onto the radar of scholars and
policymakers everywhere. Archetti has created a sustained piece of
‘sensuous scholarship’, both passionate and erudite in its
exploration of the cultural communication mechanisms that silence
childlessness and reinforce an antiquated pronatalist ideology. She
illuminates society’s blind spots around involuntary childlessness,
showing how these fuel daily microaggressions against adults
without children. An important, humane and hopeful book, it
outlines what we can all do to create a more diverse and tolerant
culture that recognises the contributions individuals without
children make to a healthy civil society." — Jody Day,
psychotherapist, founder of Gateway Women (www.gateway-women.com),
and author of Living the Life Unexpected: 12 Weeks to Your Plan B
for a Meaningful and Fulfilling Future Without Children."This book
is a perfect reading both for those who are experiencing problems
in family-building and for researchers in the field. The author
puts childlessness in social and cultural context, expressed via
individual experiences, both of her own and many others. The
combination of perspectives, her analyses and the creative writing
style contribute to our understanding of childlessness in a way
that I have never encountered before." — Anders Möller, Professor
Emeritus, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Stockholm,
Sweden."This book captures the lived experience of people without
children, revealing the political, social and personal chaos of
involuntary childlessness. The threads of the analysis are pulled
from a wide range of fields: demography, social sciences,
philosophy, communication, and media studies. Woven through the
multi-layered embroidery are the highs and lows of Cristina’s
experience—not only related to fertility treatment, but also to
conducting research on a very sensitive subject. The final tapestry
is an evocative, deeply moving, sincere, and thought provoking tour
de force." — Dr Robin Hadley, founding member of Ageing Without
Children (AWOC), and independent researcher on male childlessness
and ageing, UK."The intrinsic worth of a woman, in our society, is
still rooted in her role as a mother. Archetti reveals how being
childless is a battle of learning to accept a "life never imagined"
against a daily onslaught of messages coming from the media and
society, which suggest that not having children is "less than." I
hope that academics, reporters, politicians, and those who (most
often without realizing it) dismiss, undervalue and misrepresent
the childless read and take the time to understand not just the
words of this book, but also those that remain unspoken." —
Stephanie Phillips, founder, World Childless Week
(https://worldchildlessweek.net/).
"A powerful text. Archetti skilfully blends a deeply personal story
with robust enquiry into the meaning and experience of involuntary
childlessness. Weaving together personal diaries, interviews,
poetry and analysis of contemporary media Childlessness in the age
of communication: Deconstructing silence offers an innovative
format that is eminently readable. The book illuminates an
otherwise hidden topic and as a result it will be of interest to
researchers, practitioners and those experiencing involuntary
childlessness alike." — Dr Esmée Hanna, Centre for Reproduction
Research, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. "Cristina
Archetti’s book melds together the personal and political to
produce an academic tour-de-force which will put the study of
involuntary childlessness firmly onto the radar of scholars and
policymakers everywhere. Archetti has created a sustained piece of
‘sensuous scholarship’, both passionate and erudite in its
exploration of the cultural communication mechanisms that silence
childlessness and reinforce an antiquated pronatalist ideology. She
illuminates society’s blind spots around involuntary childlessness,
showing how these fuel daily microaggressions against adults
without children. An important, humane and hopeful book, it
outlines what we can all do to create a more diverse and tolerant
culture that recognises the contributions individuals without
children make to a healthy civil society." — Jody Day,
psychotherapist, founder of Gateway Women (www.gateway-women.com),
and author of Living the Life Unexpected: 12 Weeks to Your Plan B
for a Meaningful and Fulfilling Future Without Children."This book
makes for interesting and engaging reading for researchers across
the social sciences and humanities and also for healthcare
practitioners. The creative autoethnographic story of the social,
emotional and embodied experience of childlessness is powerful,
enlightening and scholarly." – Professor Gayle Letherby, University
of Plymouth, UK"This book is a perfect reading both for those who
are experiencing problems in family-building and for researchers in
the field. The author puts childlessness in social and cultural
context, expressed via individual experiences, both of her own and
many others. The combination of perspectives, her analyses and the
creative writing style contribute to our understanding of
childlessness in a way that I have never encountered before." —
Anders Möller, Professor Emeritus, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University
College, Stockholm, Sweden."This book captures the lived experience
of people without children, revealing the political, social and
personal chaos of involuntary childlessness. The threads of the
analysis are pulled from a wide range of fields: demography, social
sciences, philosophy, communication, and media studies. Woven
through the multi-layered embroidery are the highs and lows of
Cristina’s experience—not only related to fertility treatment, but
also to conducting research on a very sensitive subject. The final
tapestry is an evocative, deeply moving, sincere, and thought
provoking tour de force." — Dr Robin Hadley, founding member of
Ageing Without Children (AWOC), and independent researcher on male
childlessness and ageing, UK."The intrinsic worth of a woman, in
our society, is still rooted in her role as a mother. Archetti
reveals how being childless is a battle of learning to accept a
"life never imagined" against a daily onslaught of messages coming
from the media and society, which suggest that not having children
is "less than." I hope that academics, reporters, politicians, and
those who (most often without realizing it) dismiss, undervalue and
misrepresent the childless read and take the time to understand not
just the words of this book, but also those that remain unspoken."
— Stephanie Phillips, founder, World Childless Week
(https://worldchildlessweek.net/). "A life without becoming a
parent is being treated by society as a disaster, yet society tends
to ignore and silence the deepest meanings of how childlessness
might be experienced as an existential crisis from the point of
view of those who are affected by it. Archetti's book is a blessed
and needed invitation to look at the world from her and their eyes,
through a bright and thorough analysis of involuntary
childlessness. In a highly sensitive manner, she unfolds the hidden
sides of being unable to reach an agreed social hallmark. Her book
is a window to the lives of ‘others’ and, at the same time, a
mirror to ‘ours.’" – Dr Orna Donath, Tel Aviv University, Ben
Gurion University, and the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo,
Israel. Author of Regretting motherhood."Archetti has written an
informed, inspiring and important book. Breaking the silence on the
subject of childlessness in the modern world through the prism of
her own personal story and academic study, it sheds a shining light
on one of the most pressing subjects for women today." – Jessica
Hepburn, founder of Fertility Fest (www.fertilityfest.com) and
author of The pursuit of motherhood (2014) and 21 Miles: Swimming
in search of the meaning of motherhood (2018).
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