Technoscientific Musings at WUSTL

In “Sonography and Sociality”, Gammeltoft explored obstetrical ultrasound imaging in Urban Vietnam. He began by highlighting the risks of ultrasounds, exemplified by how the US and other first world countries have discouraged more than one or two ultrasounds during pregnancy. I was surprised by this, because I had never heard of that and I also thought of ultrasounds as integral to the pregnancy process. In movies or TV shows, they always have the ultrasound at the doctor’s office as a representative scene of a pregnancy. It really illustrates how producers of ultrasound “sell” ultrasound by painting it as an important medical procedure necessary in pregnancy to everyone, including me.

I thought it was interesting how important reproductive politics such as the one-to-two-child policy triggered women to be more and more concerned about the “quality” of their child, which made evident the priorities people had when they wanted sons, not daughters, and how they thought of their children as an investment that they wanted to be worthwhile. It made me wonder what it would be like to have a policy like that implemented in the US, where we have made so much “progress” (-_-) towards gender equality, and what reactions and preferences people would have for their children as a result.

I thought that the technology of ultrasound is a dangerously enticing technology for new parents. New parents are so worried about every aspect of their pregnancy, from avoiding all strenuous activity to monitoring their diets strictly to even avoiding any possibilities of stress. To have this opportunity for the parents to be able to physically see their new baby must be addicting to those who want to control their pregnancy in every way trying to make it as perfect as possible. Especially if they see their children as investments, it would be like buying a new iPhone online without knowing its specs and look (obviously not a perfect metaphor because children aren’t objects, but it shows the curiosity and impatience mothers may have). I know before buying anything expensive, I research extensively what it’s like and what it can do. Therefore, I can imagine slightly how getting the ultrasound many times may be tempting for people. Gammeltoft also talked about how this feeling is exacerbated from the many questions and focus pregnancy gets in a Hanoi community, especially when a lot of the talk were cautions and warnings. When someone tells you that all of your actions and feelings could possibly negatively impact your new baby, how can they resist running to the doctor to see if the microwave they used caused underdevelopment in their child?

Overall, I thought that it was really interesting reading about how different policies and environment lead to different reactions in the communities studied. A lot of the time, some of the ideas seem intuitive in hindsight, like the overuse of ultrasound in context of pregnancy concerns, but without seeing and analyzing the concepts in action, you can never predict exactly what’s going to happen as a result of unknown factors.