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Papers by Edit Szenassy

Research paper thumbnail of (Re)producing medical anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe

Research paper thumbnail of Reproduction on the Margins: The Moral Economies of Romani Fertility

PhD Dissertation, Charles University, 2023

Situated at the intersections of reproduction, population politics, health care services, and mar... more Situated at the intersections of reproduction, population politics, health care services, and marginality in Central Europe, this dissertation explores the diverse ways Romani women living in precarious circumstances demonstrate reproductive agency. In particular, it examines the ways their agency critically engages with the discourse of responsibilization (Rose 1996, 2007) on the affective and social levels in a context ruled by a moral regime that calls for reproductive governance (Morgan & Roberts, 2012, 2019). Discussion and analysis are based on longterm participant observation in a segregated Romani settlement in Slovakia, as well as a shortterm observation of staff and patients at a maternity ward in the Czech Republic. The ethnographic methodology and analysis are inspired by critical medical anthropology and the anthropology of reproduction. Building on this mixed-method approach, the analysis focuses
on the individual, communal, and societal aspects of reproductive decision-making. It discloses the significant material and moral constraints surrounding women’s reproductive decisions and
it shows that marginalized Roma women both revere and refuse the discourses of selfgovernance, responsibility, and accountability in their reproductive practices. The text tackles the economics of childbearing in a resource-scare environment and it analyzes Romani women’s birth narratives to show where personal autonomy is exercised before, during, and after labor. Agency does not necessarily mean resistance, and it does not automatically lead to increased inclusion and involvement in an institutionalized setting. An additional angle is provided through the perspectives of birth workers, and the dissertation accounts for ways they
renegotiate and rationalize potentially conflicting situations with Romani women in a maternity care setting. Romani ethnicity is recognized at maternity wards, and it can have consequences with regard to care at the level of institutional approaches and practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Re)Producing Medical Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe

Research paper thumbnail of From Barefoot Anthropologist to Global Watchdog: An Interview with Nancy Scheper-Hughes

An avid advocate of public anthropology, Nancy SCHEPER-HUGHES (born 1944) is Professor of Medical... more An avid advocate of public anthropology, Nancy SCHEPER-HUGHES (born 1944) is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley where she directs the doctoral program in Critical Studies in Medicine, Science, and the Body. Her fi rst book, Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland (1979), exploring madness, loneliness and socio-economic change in an Irish village setting, won the Margaret Mead Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology in 1980. In Death without Weeping: Th e Violence of Everyday life in Brazil (1993) she discusses the diffi cult choices Brazilian mothers make when refusing to care for their babies: choices driven by hunger, structural violence and poverty. Since the 1980s, Professor Scheper-Hughes has greatly shaped anthropological thinking about the body, violence, suff ering, medicine and genocide: she has coined and popularized terms such as „mindful body“ (1987, with Margaret Lock), „political economy of t...

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding Care, Pain and Responsibilization - Making Sense of Policy and Practice. An Interview with Susanna Trnka

is a social and medical anthropologist of Czech-American heritage, working at Th e University of ... more is a social and medical anthropologist of Czech-American heritage, working at Th e University of Auckland. Her research interests include the politics of health, the impact of violence on people's everyday lives, and perceptions of national identity. She has a long-standing interest in post-socialist societies in Eastern and Central Europe, and the Fiji Islands.

Research paper thumbnail of Willemijn De Jong and Olga Tkach, Eds. Making Bodies, Persons, and Families: Normalising Reproductive Technologies in Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2009. 248 P. Isbn 978-3-6438-0020-6

Laboratorium Russian Review of Social Research, Aug 28, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Cargo special issue: (Re)Producing Medical Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe (Ema Hrešanová, Edit Szénássy, eds.)

Research paper thumbnail of Living in disrespect: discrimination against Roma and anti-Gypsy sentiments in contemporary Europe

Research paper thumbnail of Housing, health and living conditions of Romanies in and outside of the European Union

Research paper thumbnail of Culturing the Population Bomb: On Slovak Fears of Roma Wombs

Children are everywhere in Romani osadas. They play, shout, dance and keren bengipen (do mischief... more Children are everywhere in Romani osadas. They play, shout, dance and keren bengipen (do mischief) on the streets, alleys and yards. These semi/segregated, poor Romani settlements, especially frequent in the eastern part of Slovakia, are characterized by a fertility rate several times higher than that of the non-Romanies. In the rural areas, an aging, relatively affluent non-Roma population is thus confronted with growing numbers of young, marginalized Roma raised in dire poverty. Relations are tense, prejudices fervent, dialogues few.

Book Reviews by Edit Szenassy

Research paper thumbnail of Making Bodies, Persons and Families: Normalizing Reproductive Technologies in Russia, Switzerland, and Germany (Willemijn de Jong and Olga Tkach, eds.)

Research paper thumbnail of (Re)producing medical anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe

Research paper thumbnail of Reproduction on the Margins: The Moral Economies of Romani Fertility

PhD Dissertation, Charles University, 2023

Situated at the intersections of reproduction, population politics, health care services, and mar... more Situated at the intersections of reproduction, population politics, health care services, and marginality in Central Europe, this dissertation explores the diverse ways Romani women living in precarious circumstances demonstrate reproductive agency. In particular, it examines the ways their agency critically engages with the discourse of responsibilization (Rose 1996, 2007) on the affective and social levels in a context ruled by a moral regime that calls for reproductive governance (Morgan & Roberts, 2012, 2019). Discussion and analysis are based on longterm participant observation in a segregated Romani settlement in Slovakia, as well as a shortterm observation of staff and patients at a maternity ward in the Czech Republic. The ethnographic methodology and analysis are inspired by critical medical anthropology and the anthropology of reproduction. Building on this mixed-method approach, the analysis focuses
on the individual, communal, and societal aspects of reproductive decision-making. It discloses the significant material and moral constraints surrounding women’s reproductive decisions and
it shows that marginalized Roma women both revere and refuse the discourses of selfgovernance, responsibility, and accountability in their reproductive practices. The text tackles the economics of childbearing in a resource-scare environment and it analyzes Romani women’s birth narratives to show where personal autonomy is exercised before, during, and after labor. Agency does not necessarily mean resistance, and it does not automatically lead to increased inclusion and involvement in an institutionalized setting. An additional angle is provided through the perspectives of birth workers, and the dissertation accounts for ways they
renegotiate and rationalize potentially conflicting situations with Romani women in a maternity care setting. Romani ethnicity is recognized at maternity wards, and it can have consequences with regard to care at the level of institutional approaches and practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Re)Producing Medical Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe

Research paper thumbnail of From Barefoot Anthropologist to Global Watchdog: An Interview with Nancy Scheper-Hughes

An avid advocate of public anthropology, Nancy SCHEPER-HUGHES (born 1944) is Professor of Medical... more An avid advocate of public anthropology, Nancy SCHEPER-HUGHES (born 1944) is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley where she directs the doctoral program in Critical Studies in Medicine, Science, and the Body. Her fi rst book, Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland (1979), exploring madness, loneliness and socio-economic change in an Irish village setting, won the Margaret Mead Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology in 1980. In Death without Weeping: Th e Violence of Everyday life in Brazil (1993) she discusses the diffi cult choices Brazilian mothers make when refusing to care for their babies: choices driven by hunger, structural violence and poverty. Since the 1980s, Professor Scheper-Hughes has greatly shaped anthropological thinking about the body, violence, suff ering, medicine and genocide: she has coined and popularized terms such as „mindful body“ (1987, with Margaret Lock), „political economy of t...

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding Care, Pain and Responsibilization - Making Sense of Policy and Practice. An Interview with Susanna Trnka

is a social and medical anthropologist of Czech-American heritage, working at Th e University of ... more is a social and medical anthropologist of Czech-American heritage, working at Th e University of Auckland. Her research interests include the politics of health, the impact of violence on people's everyday lives, and perceptions of national identity. She has a long-standing interest in post-socialist societies in Eastern and Central Europe, and the Fiji Islands.

Research paper thumbnail of Willemijn De Jong and Olga Tkach, Eds. Making Bodies, Persons, and Families: Normalising Reproductive Technologies in Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2009. 248 P. Isbn 978-3-6438-0020-6

Laboratorium Russian Review of Social Research, Aug 28, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Cargo special issue: (Re)Producing Medical Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe (Ema Hrešanová, Edit Szénássy, eds.)

Research paper thumbnail of Living in disrespect: discrimination against Roma and anti-Gypsy sentiments in contemporary Europe

Research paper thumbnail of Housing, health and living conditions of Romanies in and outside of the European Union

Research paper thumbnail of Culturing the Population Bomb: On Slovak Fears of Roma Wombs

Children are everywhere in Romani osadas. They play, shout, dance and keren bengipen (do mischief... more Children are everywhere in Romani osadas. They play, shout, dance and keren bengipen (do mischief) on the streets, alleys and yards. These semi/segregated, poor Romani settlements, especially frequent in the eastern part of Slovakia, are characterized by a fertility rate several times higher than that of the non-Romanies. In the rural areas, an aging, relatively affluent non-Roma population is thus confronted with growing numbers of young, marginalized Roma raised in dire poverty. Relations are tense, prejudices fervent, dialogues few.

Research paper thumbnail of Making Bodies, Persons and Families: Normalizing Reproductive Technologies in Russia, Switzerland, and Germany (Willemijn de Jong and Olga Tkach, eds.)