About the Book
A critique of population control narratives reproduced by international development actors in the 21st century
Since the turn of the millennium, American media, scientists, and environmental activists have insisted that the global population crisis is "back"—and that the only way to avoid catastrophic climate change is to ensure women's universal access to contraception. Did the population problem ever disappear? What is bringing it back—and why now? In On Infertile Ground, Jade S. Sasser explores how a small network of international development actors, including private donors, NGO program managers, scientists, and youth advocates, is bringing population back to the center of public environmental debate. While these narratives never disappeared, Sasser argues, histories of human rights abuses, racism, and a conservative backlash against abortion in the 1980s drove them underground—until now.
Using interviews and case studies from a wide range of sites—from Silicon Valley foundation headquarters to youth advocacy trainings, the halls of Congress and an international climate change conference—Sasser demonstrates how population growth has been reframed as an urgent source of climate crisis and a unique opportunity to support women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although well-intentioned—promoting positive action, women's empowerment, and moral accountability to a global community—these groups also perpetuate the same myths about the sexuality and lack of virtue and control of women and the people of global south that have been debunked for decades. Unless the development community recognizes the pervasive repackaging of failed narratives, Sasser argues, true change and development progress will not be possible.
On Infertile Ground presents a unique critique of international development that blends the study of feminism, environmentalism, and activism in a groundbreaking way. It will make any development professional take a second look at the ideals driving their work.
About the Author :
Jade S. Sasser is Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies University of California, Riverside.
Review :
"Like the best social science writing, the book will spark conversation and encourage critical questions about received knowledge. Notably, Sasser declines to offer any policy solutions in her conclusion, preferring to give her readers space for what she calls productive fretting. All in all, On Infertile Ground should be required reading for anyone interested in climate change, women's lives, or global population dynamics. You may not agree with Sasser's conclusions, but you will find her analysis thoughtful, clear-eyed, and great food for thought." (American Journal of Sociology) "Sasser shows how environmental activists and scientists have used the urgency of climate change to call for reducing population numbers in the Global South as part of the effort to slow global warming. Drawing on two years of fieldwork with NGO workers, government employees, volunteers, activists, and donors, Sasser chronicles a resurgent Malthusianism, which she calls "populationism," dressed in progressive-sounding terms such as "empowerment," "human rights," and "reproductive justice." ... Sasser's observations of how family planning programs operate in low-resource communities are invaluable ... As Sasser notes, the distance between the intentions of idealistic advocates who talk about women's empowerment and the women they claim to be helping is vast." (New York Review of Books) "On Infertile Ground deepens and expands our understanding of contemporary population politics and policy discourses in the era of climate change. In a fresh and original analysis, Jade S. Sasser reveals how poor women in the Global South are now instrumentalized as & sexual stewards of both the environment and the neoliberal economic order by population/environment NGOs, foundations, and policymakers. Her fieldwork gives us a first-hand view of how this hegemonic knowledge is produced and how it colonizes young white activists vision of the future. This book comes not a moment too soon as population control efforts gain force under a false banner of womens empowerment. Sasser has made an impressive contribution to political ecology, feminist theory, and the pursuit of real reproductive justice." - Betsy Hartmann,Author of Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control "On Infertile Ground is a welcome and necessary addition to medical anthropology. It is especially fruitful for scholars interested in reproductive politics, climate disaster, international development, and histories of population control ... The book's attention to sexual stewardship—Sasser's principal contribution—serves as a guidepost to help scholars and activists untangle the social ontology of neoliberal rights during the mounting climate disaster." (Medical Anthropology Quarterly) "As we face a feverish and hyper politicized climate around reproductive justice and climate change, this is a critical book for our times. Superbly researched, carefully analyzed, and deeply historical, On Infertile Ground provides a thoughtful and insightful exploration of how we got here, and what the future has in store . . . Jade S. Sasser brings many important strains in feminist and environmental literature into a cogent analysis of contemporary politics" - Banu Subramaniam,Author of Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity "Sasser's groundbreaking insights clearly demonstrate the overlap between social justice groups, and in this case, environmental causes, reproductive justice, and women's rights. [...] [Her] critical analysis couldn't have come at a more crucial time where society finds itself at a crossroad between value priorities on personal, communal, national, and international levels." (Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences)
