Navigating fertility, reproduction and modern contraception in the fragile context of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo: ‘Les enfants sont une richesse’

AbstractModern contraception has created new possibilities for reimagining reproductive norms and has generated new socio-cultural uncertainties in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Using inductive analysis of women’s reproductive narratives, this paper explores how women in a high fertility context encounter and integrate recently introduced family planning and modern contraceptive education and services into their lives. As foundational socio-cultural norms confront the new reproductive possibilities offered by contraception, power dynamics shift and norms are called into question, re-interpreted and re-negotiated. Reproduction is located as a socially constructed process at the intersection of fertility norms, power dynamics, institutional practices, embodied realties and personal desires. In many ways the possibilities created by contraception – meant to increase certainty in the lives of users – actually increase uncertainty. The complexity of reproductive navigation reveals the shor...