Dad and Daddy Assemblage: Resuturing the Nation through Transnational Surrogacy, Homosexuality, and Norwegian Exceptionalism

Transnational surrogacy and the reproductive practices it entails raise interesting questions about genetic relatedness, kinship formation, and the stratification of reproductive labor and rights. This article discusses two high-profile Norwegian cases involving the Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Øystein Mæland, who served as chief of the Norwegian police from 2011 to 2012. While surrogacy is illegal in Norway, the article demonstrates how newspaper debates on both cases discursively decentered the illegality of surrogacy practices and instead developed notions of “good” and “bad” practices, positioning surrogacy in California as ethically regulated, while surrogacy in India was framed as fraught with ethical issues and exploitative. The article concludes that the two cases point to how specific formations of gay surrogacy work to simultaneously produce legitimate citizens out of commissioning parents and children, as well as a superior and exceptional nation-state.