''Original, fascinating and shocking'' BERNARDINE EVARISTO You may well know someone who has gone overseas and put their future in the hands of a stranger to pursue their dream of becoming a parent; you may even know someone who has resorted to the services of an exam mill or shadow scholar to get themselves through their finals. But do you know anything about the women who provide these services, let alone where they live? They call themselves the surrogates. Patricia Kingori, Professor at Oxford, uncovers a world where the parentally and academically desperate seek help, with few questions asked, from the entrepreneurial surrogates, who sacrifice their bodies and minds at the peak of their most productive years, to give birth to someone else''s baby and write someone else''s assignment. At its heart are Millicent and Rose, the brilliant, unforgettable and resourceful women who embody the pressures and precarity, humour and heartache, corruption and empty choices of these twin trades, on which so many in the Global North depend. The Surrogates is the first ever in-depth examination of the lives of African women entangled in these booming, multi-billion-dollar industries of biological and intellectual surrogacy. With unprecedented access, drawing on four years of on-the-ground research and interviews with 80 women, it confronts the inequalities and contradictions woven into the fabric of education, technology, globalization, and the pursuit of personal agency. Kingori also holds up a mirror to our own societies, engaging with the thorny issues of medical tourism, AI and offshoring labour, and illuminating the resilience of those largely unheard in the ongoing conversation about empowerment and choice.

Autorentext
Patricia Kingori is Professor of Global Health at the Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities and a Fellow of Somerville College at the University of Oxford, and leader of the After The End Wellcome project about alternative futures. She is the subject of the Steve McQueen-produced documentary The Shadow Scholars (2024), host of the acclaimed podcast Exploring the Genuine Fake and founder of the museum programme April Fakes Day.

Klappentext

'Original, fascinating and shocking' BERNARDINE EVARISTO

You may well know someone who has gone overseas and put their future in the hands of a stranger to pursue their dream of becoming a parent; you may even know someone who has resorted to the services of an exam mill or shadow scholar to get themselves through their finals. But do you know anything about the women who provide these services, let alone where they live?

They call themselves the surrogates.

Patricia Kingori, Professor at Oxford, uncovers a world where the parentally and academically desperate seek help, with few questions asked, from the entrepreneurial surrogates, who sacrifice their bodies and minds at the peak of their most productive years, to give birth to someone else's baby and write someone else's assignment. At its heart are Millicent and Rose, the brilliant, unforgettable and resourceful women who embody the pressures and precarity, humour and heartache, corruption and empty choices of these twin trades, on which so many in the Global North depend.

The Surrogates is the first ever in-depth examination of the lives of African women entangled in these booming, multi-billion-dollar industries of biological and intellectual surrogacy. With unprecedented access, drawing on four years of on-the-ground research and interviews with 80 women, it confronts the inequalities and contradictions woven into the fabric of education, technology, globalization, and the pursuit of personal agency. Kingori also holds up a mirror to our own societies, engaging with the thorny issues of medical tourism, AI and offshoring labour, and illuminating the resilience of those largely unheard in the ongoing conversation about empowerment and choice.