Overview

Elizabeth C. Britt uses a Massachusetts statute requiring insurance coverage for infertility as a lens through which the work of rhetoric in complex cultural processes can be better understood. Countering the commonsensical notion that mandatory insurance coverage functions primarily to relieve the problem of infertility, Britt argues instead that the coverage serves to expose its contours. Britt uses extensive interviews with women undergoing fertility treatments to provide the foundation for her detailed analysis. While her study focuses on the example of infertility, it is also more broadly a commentary on the power of definition to frame experience, on the burdens and responsibilities of belonging to social collectives, and on the ability of rhetorical criticism to interrogate cultural formations.

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9780817357900

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There is a rapidly growing literature on topics related to family building in traditional and nontraditional ways. This is the first I am aware of that undertakes a rhetorical analysis of the discourse surrounding infertility and its resolution. --Lisa Cuklanz, Boston University

Author Information

Elizabeth C. Britt is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Northeastern University.

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