My research is focused on women’s reproductive health, and I explore the fluidity of bodies, health, reproduction, and technologies. I am currently conducting ethnographic work both in Taiwan and in Denmark to explore differences in maternity care and women’s reproductive choices. Engaging in this comparative study will provide an account of women’s reproductive choice in a global context. My adopted theories and methods have enabled me to qualitatively trace and question technologically mediated care practices. 


1. The Logic of Maternity Care: Taiwanese Women’s New Reproductive Choice and Shared Doctoring in Childbirth

Since the 1960s, reproductive choice has been at the center of two waves of U.S.-led women’s reproductive rights movements. In response to medicalization of childbirth, these women’s movements proposed going back to nature and fought for greater autonomy and free choice in the birthing method. Many studies have shown that women’s reproductive choices are limited by the social and medical system. Therefore, it is significant to examine what is the meaning of having reproductive choices within medical practice, and how and to what degree the practice of midwifery and the idea of free choice empowers women’s autonomy. Can choice bring better maternity care to women? To answer these questions, this project explores Taiwanese women’s new reproductive choices and their practice in maternity care.
 

Name of project	Sponsor	duration
The Logic of Maternity Care and the Logic of Women's Reproductive Choice MOST 104-2410-H-038-009	Ministry of Science and Technology	01/09/2015- 31/-8/2016

Shih, Li-Wen (2019) ‘The Logic of Maternity Care: Taiwanese Women’s New Reproductive Choice and Shared Doctoring in Maternity Care.’ Journal of Women's and Gender Studies. (TSSCI) [Link to Publication]



2. Maternity care practice in Denmark: a model of collaboration between midwives and obstetricians

The shared care model between obstetricians and midwives is one of the most adopted maternity care models in advanced industrial countries. This project attempts to introduce the Danish maternity care system, which practices this model, to enrich our understanding of how collaboration between obstetricians and midwives is practiced, and also to learn the advantages and logic of care embedded in these practice.

Name of project	Sponsor	duration
The Logic of Maternity Care and the Logic of Women's Reproductive Choice MOST 104-2410-H-038-009	Ministry of Science and Technology	01/09/2015- 31/-8/2016

   
參考著作：
Shih, Li-Wen (2018) ‘Maternity care practice in Denmark: a model of collaboration between midwives and obstetricians,’ Taiwan Journal of Public Health. 37(3): 280-294. In Chinese 施麗雯(2018) 〈丹麥孕產照護運作：助產師和產科醫師共同照護的模式〉。《台灣公共衛生雜誌》，37(3): 280-294。) [Link to Publication]



3. Enacting Pregnant Women, Enacting the Foetus Prenatal Screening and Testing (PST) in Taiwan

At the core of this research is the point that PST does much more than just examine the health of the foetus and the health of the pregnant woman. The project investigates the experiences of pregnant women in Taiwan as they navigate and negotiate PST. Based on ethnographic observations in four clinical prenatal care sites, interviews with medical professionals, pregnant women and couples, and participants’ drawings of PST, this project explores how the experience of PST affects women’s relations to the foetus, medical professionals, PST technologies and their families. Employing Donna Haraway’s and actor-network theory’s (ANT) material-semiotic approaches, I show how women, the foetus, medical practices and PST technologies are brought into a relational web shaping and reshaping the connection between the human and non-humans actors involved. A central concern of the project is to ask: what are the implications of PST for Taiwanese society as a latecomer to the use of PST technologies and practices. To discuss this, the project is divided into three parts. The first part, ‘Local Politics of Prenatal Care,‘ traces the local politics of prenatal care to explore the health and population policy in Taiwan. The second part, ‘Technoscientific Practice and Women’s Choice,’ examines the technoscientific practice and women’s reproductive choice. The third part, ‘Globalisation and the Fluidity of PST in a Latecomer society,’ analyses the fluid and global nature of PST as PST unfolds in the latecomer society of Taiwan. This global and fluid nature of PST will then be seen in relation to a post-colonial technoscience approach to Taiwanese women, marriage migrants, and the fluidity of technology. It thus contributes to and extends international feminist technoscience studies and post-colonial technoscience by bringing Taiwanese women’s experiences and an ANT approach to feminist discussions of prenatal screening and testing.
 

Name of project	Sponsor	duration
English book project: ‘Enacting Pregnant Women, Enacting the Foetus Prenatal Screening and Testing in Taiwan’ MOST 105-2410-H-038 -007 -MY2	Ministry of Science and Technology	01/08/2016- 31/07/2018

 


4. The Translation of Cell-Free Fetal DNA Screening in Taiwan and in Denmark

Prenatal genetic screening and testing has been a main concern in sociology, science, technology and society and feminist studies. Application of cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) screening has become a part of routine prenatal care since 2012 and has brought attention from several related studies. CffDNA screening makes it possible to detect certain types of genetic defects earlier in the pregnancy and with fewer risks. However, it also brings issues to women and society. CffDNA screening was introduced in the North Denmark Region in March 2013 and in the capital of Taiwan in 2012. Since 2017, the Danish Health System has provided CffDNA as an alternative prenatal genetic testing to pregnant women in Denmark, while it is offered as as a self-paid product in Taiwanese obstetric institutions. This project attempts to explore Danish and Taiwanese maternity care practices, pregnant women’s relation to new non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, and its influence on their reproductive choices. Employing an actor-network theory approach, this project extends Bruno Latour’s discussion of ‘translation’ and ‘displacement’ to explore the translation trajectory of cffDNA screening. To understand how this type of diagnosis affects pregnant women’s pregnancy, the project will explore: how cffDNA screening has been translated into Taiwan and Denmark; who are the material-semiotic actors participating in the translation; and what has been displaced during translation. In addition to examining news sources, government reports, official statistics, and reports from medical associations, I will also conduct interviews with medical professionals, pregnant women and stakeholders in this clinical practice both on Taiwan and Denmark to learn about this practice and how it effects women’s reproductive choices. In the end, this project will contribute to science, technology and society, feminist studies and also the current prenatal care policies by bringing the discussion of the translation trajectory of cffDNA screening to the context of Taiwanese and Danish women’s reproductive choice.
 

Name of project	Sponsor	duration
The Promise of Prenatal Genetic Screening and Testing? Noninvasive Prenatal Diagnosis in Taiwan MOST 07-2410-H-038-005-MY2	Ministry of Science and Technology	01/08/2018- 1/07/2020

參考著作：
Shih, Li-Wen (2019) ‘Geneticization: Prenatal Genetic Screening and Testing,’ pp 104-126. in Tsai, Yu-Yue et al. ed. Genomic Taiwan: Shifting Paradigms and Challenges. National Chiao-Tung University Press. (in Chinese施麗雯(2018)〈基因化世代：產前基因篩檢與檢測〉，頁104-126，收入於蔡友月等編《台灣的後基因體時代：新科技的典範轉移與挑戰》，國立交通大學出版社。) [Link to Publication]