Haunting Images: A Cultural Account of Selective Reproduction in Vietnam

Acknowledgments

xi Books can be seen as products of their authors’ belonging, or strivings to belong, to social collectives of conversation and collaboration. The process of writing this book has placed me in profound debt to a variety of such collectives and their individual members. First of all, I am indebted to my co-researchers in Vietnam. With me through three years of intense fieldwork, through lively meetings, inspired discussions, and nourishing lunches at our bún ngan restaurant in Hanoi’s La Thành street has been a group of ten researchers: Bùi Kim Chi, Đô ˜ Thanh Toàn, Hoàng Hai Vân, Nguyê ˜n Hoàng Oanh, Nguyê ˜n Huy Ba .o, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Hiê .p, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Thanh, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Thuý Ha .nh, Nguyê ˜n Trung Kiên, and Trần Minh Hằng. Without you, this project would not have been possible. Our teamwork has enriched my life tremendously, and it forms the social, moral, and intellectual backbone of this book. I also extend my deepest thanks to the Hanoian women and their families who received us in their homes with such hospitality and shared a significant and difficult time of their lives with us. Further, I am grateful to physicians, nurses, and midwives at Hanoi’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital—and particularly to Đă .ng Thanh Vân, Nguyê ˜n Công Nghĩa, Nguyê ˜n Hoa Phương, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Nguyê .t, Pha .m Ngọc Bỉnh, and Trần Kim Dung—for sharing their experiences, visions, and medical ambitions with us and for tolerating our presence, in the midst of demanding day-to-day work, with patience, humor, and generosity. Acknowledgments This project was funded by the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) and conducted under the auspices of REACH (Strengthening Reproductive Health Research in Vietnam), a long-term Danidafunded project for building research capacity, involving Vietnamese and Danish researchers. I am grateful to Danida for funding REACH and other research partnership projects in Vietnam; to the Vietnam Commission for Population, Family and Children (VCPFC) (Ủy Ban Dân Số, Gia Đình và Trẻ Em) for hosting the project; and to researchers and administrators involved in REACH for their enthusiasm and commitment . Special thanks for long-term collaboration in connection with REACH go to Nguyê ˜n Đình Anh, Nguyê ˜n Mỹ Hương, Nguyê ˜n Quốc Anh, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Mai, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Minh Hao, Nguyê ˜n Thi . Ngọc Lan, Nguyê ˜n Thu Nam, Pha .m Hương Thao, Thiều Văn Nghinh, Trần Thu Thủy, and Trần Văn Chiến, and also to my Danish colleagues Dan Meyrowitsch, Hanne Overgaard Mogensen, Karen Fog Olwig, Lise Rosendahl Østergaard, and Vibeke Rasch. I thank the VCPFC and Hanoi’s Health Authorities (Sở Y Tế Hà Nội) for granting us research permissions to conduct this project. In Denmark, I am grateful to students and colleagues at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, for day-to-day academic sustenance. Special thanks to Susan Reynolds Whyte for the example she sets, to Anne Line Dalsgaard for her creativity and generosity as a friend and colleague, to Ayo Wahlberg for his careful and constructive reading of this book manuscript at an early stage, to Inger Sjørslev and Heiko Henkel for being wonderful neighbors in the departmental community, and to Oscar Salemink for friendship and support. Another academic community to which I am indebted consists of Vietnam studies researchers across the globe. Over the years I have learned much from conversations with Annika Johansson, Christina Schwenkel, Christophe Guilmoto, Christophe Robert, Danièle Bélanger, Diane Fox, Froniga Greig, Harriet Phinney, Hoàng Tú Anh, Khuất Thu Hồng, Jennifer Hirsch, Lê Minh Giang, Lê Thi . Nhâm Tuyết, Melissa Pashigian, Michael DiGregorio, Nguyê ˜n Đức Hinh, Nguyê ˜n Thu Hương, Nguyê ˜n Tuấn Anh, Pauline Oosterhoff, Pha .m Kim Ngọc, Philip Taylor, Victoria H. Luong, Vũ Quý Nhân, and Vũ Song Hà. Another scholarly collective that I am indebted to emerged at the Wenner-Gren Symposium No. 144, “The Anthropology of Potentiality,” held in Teresopolis, Brazil , in 2011. The academic generosity at this event was immensely encouraging , and I am particularly grateful to Adriana Petryna, Bob Simpson, Jianfeng Zhu, Karen-Sue Taussig, Klaus Høyer, Mette Nordahl Svendxii | Acknowledgments Acknowledgments | xiii sen, Michael Montoya, Sahra...