Perils to pregnancies: on social sorrows and strategies surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon

This article explores the local perceptions and practices surrounding pregnancy loss
in Cameroon—a topic that has long been neglected in international reproductive
health debates. Based on extended periods of anthropological fieldwork in an urban
and a rural setting in the East province of the country, it shows the inherent ambiguities
that underlie pregnancies and their perceived dangers. By situating meanings
of pregnancy loss within the complex dynamics of marriage and kinship, pregnant
bodies are argued to be social bodies—the actions and interpretations of which shift
along with social situations. This approach not only forms an alternative to the current
focus on the body politic in global discourses on fertility risks but also shows
how conventional assumptions such as the rigid distinction between voluntary and
involuntary pregnancy loss distort ambiguous daily life realities for Cameroonian
women whose pregnancies are not being carried to term.