Reproductive Migrations Surrogacy workers and stratified reproduction in St Petersburg Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of Doctor in Philosophy Christina Corinna Weis De Montfort University September 2017 Abstract Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman conceives in order to give birth to child or children for another individual or couple to raise. This thesis explores how commercial gestational surrogacy is culturally framed and socially organised in Russia and investigates the roles of the key actors. In particular it explores the experiences of surrogacy workers, including those who migrate or commute long distances within and to Russia for surrogacy work and the significance of their origin, citizenship, ethnicity and religion in shaping their experience. Ethnographic fieldwork was carried out in St Petersburg between August 2014 and May 2015 and involved semi-structured interviews, (participant) observations, informal conversations and ethnographic fieldnotes with 33 surrogacy workers, 7 client parents, 15 agency staff and 11 medical staff in medical and surrogacy agency facilities. Data were analysed using inductive ethnographic principles. A reflexive account, which includes a consideration of the utility of making one’s own emotional responses a research tool, is also included. Drawing on and expanding on Colen’s (1995) conceptual framework of stratified reproduction and Crenshaw’s (1989) analytical framework of intersectionality, this research shows that surrogacy in Russia is culturally framed and therefore socially organised as an economic exchange, which gives rise to and reinforces different forms of intersecting reproductive stratifications. These stratifications include biological, social, geographic, geo-political and ethnic dimensions. Of particular novelty is the extension of Colen’s framework to address geographic and geo-political stratifications. This was based on the finding that some women (temporarily) migrate or commute (over long distances) to work as gestational carriers. The thesis also demonstrates how an economic framing of surrogacy induced surrogacy workers to understand surrogacy gestation as work, which influenced their relationships with client parents. Given the rapid global increase in the use of surrogacy and its increasingly internationalised nature, this research into the social organisation of commercial gestational surrogacy in Russia is timely and has implications for users, medical practitioners and regulators, as well as researchers concerned with (cross-border) surrogacy and reproductive justice. 1 2 Acknowledgments This PhD was a journey of the heart and mind. Embarking on it and now approaching its end, has not only led to this thesis, but led me to realise how infinitely blessed and rich I am in my family, friends and colleagues who inspire me, support me, lift me up and embrace me. The following list of gratitude is long, and starts with those who allowed me to study their work and lives, often so carefully concealed from even their own families and friends: your trust in me and your openness in sharing was moving. My deepest gratitude goes to the surrogacy workers and client parents in Russia who shared with me their experiences, feelings, anguish and hopes, and the doctors who acted as gatekeepers and informants. For sake of confidentiality I cannot name you, but it doesn’t feel right to make the most important contributors to this work invisible. Some of you know your own pseudonym, so thank you Olesya, Ilya, Asenka, Anna, Rada, Karina, Lyubov, Elisaveta, Mila, Yuliana, Gabriela, Marcella, Oksana, Kira, Nadezhda, Katarina, Dr Andrey and Dr Dmitri. Thank you to everyone who listened to my stories of fieldwork, the happy and ecstatic, the ones that brought tears of sadness or rage to my eyes, the too-descriptive or bloody ones, and the ones I struggled to put into words. Thank you for giving me release and support, and, so often, simply the chance to put emotions and knowledge into words. Thank you to my supervisors Prof Nicky Hudson and Dr Sally Ruane, who provided me with expert guidance and advice, inspiration and encouragement, tireless patience and kindness, and throughout this journey gave me the feeling that I will succeed. I could not have imagined better supervisors! In addition, I would like to thank Dr Robbie Davis-Floyd, with whom I interned twice while writing up my PhD, and Prof Sharmila Rudrappa, who I met during these stays in Austin, TX, and whose insights and advice shaped my work. 3 Thank you to the members of the Centre for Reproduction Research at De Montfort University for being amazing and such supportive colleagues and friends, and particular thanks to Wendy Norton, my companion in surrogacy research, Jess Turner, Caroline Law, Paris Connolly, Dr Cathy Herbrand, Dr Kylie Baldwin, Kriss Fearon and Raksha Pandya-Wood. Another special thank to Kriss who while criss-crossing the UK for her own PhD data collection made time to proofread my final draft. Obrigada to my friends Marcia and Eric and their family and community at beautiful Mount of Oaks in Portugal. You opened your doors and hearts when I needed to get away from writing, to dig my hands in soil and lift my heart to the sky. May you home continue to be blessed and a blessing. Огромное спасибо to my friends and colleagues in Russia: Zhanna Yureva, the captain of St Peterburg’s White Nights Furies roller derby team. From the first moment I set foot into St Petersburg for my MSc research, to hugging me goodbye when I left after the PhD research, she was there unconditionally whenever and wherever I needed her. Thank you especially for your tireless transcription and translation help. Alena Lysenkina, my housemate and soul mate - rarely one meets a person as kind and embracing as you are. Thank you for our friendship that has been growing since we met on a yoga mat… Thank you Mila Chevalier, the former director of the Netherlands Institute in St Petersburg (NIP), Luuc Kooijmans and Petra Couvée, who helped me out plenty of times when I got myself stuck, made sure I learned Dutch while in Russia and, together with the whole NIP team, gave me a place to work and fuel on coffee and kindness during dark winter months. Thank you to the Centre for Independent Social Research in St Petersburg for hosting my seminar, and in particular Dr Olga Tkach for continuous support! Thank you to the State University of Technology and Design for inviting me and organising my stay in Russia as a visiting research student. Thank you HLS-PhD-room community! How exciting that we met on this journey, at different crossroads and stages, gazing into the future, looking back together and passing on advice. You were the best company, from Monday mornings till Sunday past 4 midnight. Thank you for your friendship – John, Aamir, Bhaskar, Emmanuel, Dennis, Bish, Sasha, Aveen, Zaqia, Sebastian, Paschal, Lukasz, Filipe and especially thank you Aghogho, for your many uplifting as well as grounding words, and the hugs when I needed them. Thank you to the people who made living in Leicester special, my valued friends and teachers, Ryan James and Mr Jason Finn, aka Poeta, my housemates Pushpa and Barsa, and Maria, co-resident of the Feminist East Wing. Heartfelt gratitude to Dr Nadia Svirydzenka for providing chocolate, food and other life-sustaining substances, as well as occasional therapy and the comfort of understanding during my downs – and on top of all, thank you for providing me with a home on the final stretch. Thank you to Dr Sayani Mitra, another companion in surrogacy research and an inspiration throughout, as well as Dr Marcin Smietana, who never failed to find kind and encouraging words. Thank you to my best friends Eva and Vroni, who shared and encouraged my excitement in studying (medical) anthropology from the very beginning, and for all your love. Thank you to the Clapham Common Acroyoga Crew, and in particular Daniel. I owe my high(-flying) spirit during the final weeks before submission to you. And coming last, but not least, because they held me and all of this together, thank you mum and dad, Hildegard and Karl Weis, and my brothers Felix and Philipp. Thank you for your love and support - your daughter and sister, always travelling, always (geographically) far, yet always close. 5 6 Table of contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 3 Table of contents .......................................................................................................................... 7 Table of figures and diagrams ..................................................................................................... 15 Glossary ....................................................................................................................................... 17 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 19 1.1 Forms of surrogacy and notes on nomenclature ........................................................ 20 1.2 Why the practise of surrogacy in Russia is of interest for research ........................... 21 1.2.1 Controversies around surrogacy and shifts in research foci ............................... 21 1.2.2 Rationales and approach for researching