Maneuvering in Silence: Abortion Narratives and Reproductive Life Histories from the Faroe Islands

Abstract

I explore what silence surrounding abortion means to women in their everyday lives and the composition of their selfhood. My analysis is based on one-year of ethnographic fieldwork consisting of 20 interviews with women from the Faroe Islands and participant observation. Building upon theoretical frameworks of belonging and subjectivity studies, I discuss women’s silent maneuverings from an understanding of freedom of choice and power as complex entities and expand on the dimensions of belonging and nonbelonging. I find that women’s silent maneuverings are a navigational strategy made in a quest for belonging, and propose the concept of performed belonging.