My first major research project on childbirth in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu began in 1991 and culminated with the publication of my book, Birth on the Threshold: Childbirth and Modernity in South India (University of California Press 2003). This book received the Association for Asian Studies’ 2005 A.K. Coomaraswamy Book Prize for the best book in South Asia Studies. The book analyzes the impact of modernity on the experiences of lower class women during childbirth. I argue that although the biomedicalization of birth is part of a global modernizing process, it is occurring in unique ways at the local level. I examine the ways in which the socially and culturally unique relationship between modernity and birth, as well as the discourse of modernity itself, impact the choices women make about what kind of care to seek during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. This research was supported by grants from the Fulbright Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

I am currently engaged in a research project on social and cultural aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. I conducted ethnographic research for this project from January — July 2004 with support from the Fulbright Foundation; and from December 2002 — January 2003 with support from the University of Notre Dame. This study has two components. The first component explores relationships among HIV/AIDS, medicine, gender, class, and stigma. Specifically, I am studying responses to the increasing availability of drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy. I examine what factors go into women’s decisions about whether or not to opt for HIV testing during pregnancy, and whether or not to continue with childbearing if they are found to be HIV-positive during pregnancy. This study also investigates the ways in which the HIV/AIDS epidemic, HIV testing, and anti-retroviral treatments during pregnancy are transforming the experience of maternity for women in India

The second component of my research on AIDS in India explores relationships among HIV/AIDS, medicine, and national identity politics in India. In this study I examine how national identity is implicated in debates surrounding the use of indigenous systems of Indian medicine to treat HIV/AIDS patients within India and abroad. And I look at the ways in which national identity politics informs debates surrounding the manufacturing of low-cost generic anti-retroviral drugs in India and their export to other countries, particularly to countries in sub-Saharan Africa.