Med Anthropol. 2014 Jun 3. [Epub ahead of print]
Creating Neoliberal Citizens in Morocco: Reproductive Health, Development Policy, and Popular Islamic Beliefs.
Author information
- a Direct communication to her at Department of Sociology and Anthropology George Mason University , 4400 University Drive, MSN 3G5, Fairfax , VA 22030 .
Abstract
Self-governance and responsibility are two traits associated with neoliberal citizenship in scholarly and popular discourses, but little of the literature on this topic focuses on North Africa. My goal, in this article, is not only to fill this void, but also to complicate understandings of neoliberalism through an examination of the relationship between reproductive health care, development policy, and popular Islamic beliefs in Morocco. My discussion is based on fieldwork in Rabat, Morocco, which included observations in health clinics, interviews with patients and staff, and visits to patients' homes. By analyzing the childbearing and childrearing practices of Moroccan women who visited the clinics, I pose that neoliberal logic cannot be pre-defined or understood as a monolithic concept. I demonstrate that women were active in their own governance and accountable for their reproductive behaviors, but they did so because of their understandings of what Islam says about fertility and motherhood.
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