IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v63y2006i2p418-429.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

"Women do what they want": Islam and permanent contraception in Northern Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Krehbiel Keefe, Susi

Abstract

Based on fieldwork in Ugweno, Tanzania, this research explores a case that contradicts popular understandings and representations of Muslim African women--specifically with respect to reproduction and family planning. Building on case studies of women who articulate their motivations regarding contraceptive use in general, and sterilization in particular, I argue that religious (and, in this case, Islamic) values and reasoning are fashioned pragmatically. The study was based on in-depth, unstructured and open-ended interviews with 40 women (20 of whom had been sterilized), as well as men, religious leaders and hospital workers. Women (and men) in Ugweno construct reproductive lives that challenge overly deterministic understandings of the relationship between religion and contraceptive practices. It was found that perceptions of Islamic rules about family planning are inconsistent. Individuals are able to define their own approach by manipulating the rules and resisting them.

Suggested Citation

  • Krehbiel Keefe, Susi, 2006. ""Women do what they want": Islam and permanent contraception in Northern Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 418-429, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:2:p:418-429
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00699-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sargent, Carolyn & Cordell, Dennis, 2003. "Polygamy, disrupted reproduction, and the state: Malian migrants in Paris, France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(9), pages 1961-1972, May.
    2. Hollos, Marida & Larsen, Ulla, 2004. "Which African men promote smaller families and why? Marital relations and fertility in a Pare community in Northern Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1733-1749, May.
    3. Hollos, Marida & Larsen, Ulla, 1997. "From lineage to conjugality: The social context of fertility decisions among the Pare of Northern Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 361-372, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ataullahjan, Anushka & Mumtaz, Zubia & Vallianatos, Helen, 2019. "Family planning, Islam and sin: Understandings of moral actions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 49-56.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bove, Riley & Valeggia, Claudia, 2009. "Polygyny and women's health in sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 21-29, January.
    2. Aiga, Hirotsugu, 2006. "Reasons for participation in and needs for continuing professional education among health workers in Ghana," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 290-303, August.
    3. Panter-Brick, Catherine & Eggerman, Mark, 2018. "The field of medical anthropology in Social Science & Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 233-239.
    4. Caroline H. Bledsoe & René Houle & Papa Sow, 2007. "High fertility Gambians in low fertility Spain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 16(12), pages 375-412.
    5. Tijou Traoré, Annick & Querre, Madina & Brou, Hermann & Leroy, Valériane & Desclaux, Alice & Desgrées-du-Loû, Annabel, 2009. "Couples, PMTCT programs and infant feeding decision-making in Ivory Coast," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 830-837, September.
    6. Patience Afulani & Joseph Asunka, 2015. "Socialization, Adaptation, Transnationalism, and the Reproductive Behavior of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in France," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(4), pages 561-592, August.
    7. Caroline Bledsoe & Papa Sow, 2008. "Family reunification ideals and the practice of transnational reproductive life among Africans in Europe," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2008-001, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    8. Elisabeth K. Kraus & Amparo González-Ferrer, 2023. "Fertility Differences Between Migrants and Stayers in a Polygamous Context: Evidence from Senegal," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 137-164, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:2:p:418-429. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.