About (No) Child Desire
This contribution addresses the concept of « child desire » by questioning the notion of social space of procreation in a context of structural violence and from the following questions : Who brings a child into the world ? Who does not ? Who decides and why ? The birth of a child is hence analyzed not only as a pure product of the individual desire, but also as a « production ». Data are based on an ethnographic research carried out in Cambodia from 2008 to 2012 related to the social construction and production of reproductive health policies, biotechnologies and uses. The article is based on an ethnographical corpus collected in the poor districts of Phnom Penh and related to the practices of male sterilization, sale of sexual service during pregnancy and commodification of newborns. Having historically situated the construction of birth control policies on an international and local scale, the paper deploys two analytical dimensions. The etic perspective refers to the roles of international and state institutions in managing the bodies of individuals. The emic perspective refers to the perception and the experience of the individuals on what they undergo. Thus, the article analyzes some logics that underlie the emergence of a social form of human reproduction that is constrained and secured or subjected to high productivity.