Xiong, Ger

"A Matter of Life and Death": Biocitizenship and (In)Voluntary Reproductive Sterilization of Hmong Refugee Women in California (Post-1979)

2013

Xiong, Ger
Advisor(s): Nguyen-Vo, Thu-Huong

Abstract

This thesis explores how women's reproductive choices and capacities are regulated through state apparatuses and medical processes in the optimization of life. In particular, I examine reproductive sterilizations of six Hmong refugee women in California, even after the sterilization legislation was legally repealed. These women's voices and critical contestations make visible the racialization and pathologization of female bodies within biopolitical order.

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UCLA

"A Matter of Life and Death": Biocitizenship and (In)Voluntary Reproductive Sterilization of Hmong Refugee Women in California (Post-1979)