Agency and Assistance in Indonesian Muslim Reproductive Quests
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Buonopane, Amanda Jane
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Stevens, Phil
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
State University of New York at Buffalo
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
239
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
State University of New York at Buffalo
Text preceding or following the note
2019
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The research in this dissertation set out to explore the mutual impact between the infertility experience, meanings of family, and the personal experience of religion through a cross-cultural study of Muslim infertility. Main primary research was completed September 2014 across 3 sites in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia with observational research in fertility clinics and semi-structured interviews with twenty-one infertile women and men and twelve physicians and clinic personnel. The data gathered from these activities revealed the following regarding infertility in Indonesia: 1) infertility treatment is situated within the reproductive spectrum , rather than as a departure from it, and as such is embedded socially and cosmologically; 2) Islamic moral frameworks draw from a variety of sources and provide a guiding path in treatment-seeking; and 3) beliefs regarding God's assistance and virtuous human agency work in cooperation toward aims of achieving successful reproductive outcomes in a model of dual accountability. Supplementary research was conducted in Turkey and Morocco in September-October 2015 and in the US and Canada between 2014-2016. Data from each of these countries was limited due to recruitment challenges. The data that was collected in via clinic visits (1 in US, 2 in Morocco, 2 in Turkey), interviews with clinic staff (1 in US, 3 in Turkey, 3 in Morocco), and interviews with patients (3 in US/Canada, 3 in Morocco, and one partial interview in Turkey) provided directional data for comparison and areas to explore in further research. Stigma around infertility more often arose in these settings compared to the Indonesian context where the common infertility implications of isolation and stigmatization were largely absent. Furthermore, this supplementary data also reflected similar sentiments regarding an Islamic will to action that can be a motivating force in seeking treatment.