Conceiving subjectivity: embodiment and constructions of self in pregnancy

This doctoral research project investigated pregnant people’s experiences of pregnancy. First, it examines the feminist literature on the medicalisation of the pregnant body and overviews the development of models of subjectivity used to understand the maternal subject. Taking a qualitative, interpretivist stance, grounded in feminist epistemologies, this research addressed questions related to how pregnant people navigate their bodily boundaries and how this, in turn, informs their sense of self. Using Wengraf’s (2004) Biographical Narrative Interview Method, this research collected twenty unstructured narrative interviews, three diaries, and ethnographic materials. Drawing on relational models of pregnant subjectivity, this thesis explores discourse, the body, and agency within its analysis. First, it argues that medicalised and natural bodies form key discourses for pregnant bodies, both of which relegate the pregnant subject as a passive, non-agentic actor. Next, it examines the bodily experience of pregnant subjects, noting how a corporeal “knowing” of their pregnant subjectivity helps to construct and de-construct a foetal other, further recognising the ways in which pregnant people feel both distinct and connected to their foetus. Finally, it also examines how participants used their pregnant bodies as site of agency and power to challenge dominant discourses of gender. Throughout these explorations, the role of others continually arises as a key influence in shaping pregnant subjectivity, whether that is in providing support to challenge dominant discourse, recognise and feel a distinct corporeal other, or assert agency. From these insights, pregnant forms of embodiment help to reveal the intersubjective nature of the body, self, and others.