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‘Wakey wakey baby’ : narrating four-dimensional (4D) bonding scans
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Roberts, Julie. (2012) ‘Wakey wakey baby’ : narrating four-dimensional (4D) bonding scans. Sociology of Health & Illness, Vol.34 (No.2). pp. 299-314. ISSN 0141-9889
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01345.x
Abstract
Commercial companies market 4D ultrasound scans to expectant parents for the stated purpose of reassurance, to promote bonding, and to get ‘baby’s first picture’. This article describes in detail the process of commercial 4D scanning in the UK, paying particular attention to the discursive exchanges in the scan room. It is argued that sonographers and clients engage in a process of ‘collaborative coding’ that, despite the realism of 4D, is essential to making the imagery on the screen personally and socially meaningful. While sonographers first help clients to get their bearings, expectant parents and others often engage in a complex process of narrating the images on the screen as they are created. The capacities of 4D ultrasound to image facial features and movements inform stories about fetal experience and family resemblances as well as enabling playfully imagined interactions with the fetus. While these stories are primarily based in experiences of the visual, there is also evidence that pregnant women seek to map the image onto their bodies and to reintroduce some elements of their embodied experiences into the narratives.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman R Medicine > R Medicine (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Ultrasonic imaging, Fetus -- Imaging , Pregnancy |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Sociology of Health & Illness |
| Publisher: | Blackwell |
| ISSN: | 0141-9889 |
| Date: | February 2012 |
| Volume: | Vol.34 |
| Number: | No.2 |
| Page Range: | pp. 299-314 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01345.x |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| Funder: | Arts & Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) (AHRC) |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/37309 |
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