Cultural Notions of Fertility in South Asia and their Impact on Sri Lankan Family Planning Practices

Abstract

In this paper we address a topic crucial to the field of family planning, yet rarely identified as a subject for research: cultural perceptions of fertility. Data from two ethnographic contexts will be presented: South Kanara District, Karnataka State, India and Low Country, Southwest Sri Lanka. A case study which sparked our curiosity in the cultural perception of fertility will initially be introduced, followed by a general discussion of the anthropological literature on fertility and conception in India. In most of this literature, conception is discussed in relation to systems of descent. Moving beyond textual sources, we will present field data on folk notions of fertility collected in both South India and Sri Lanka during the course of medical anthropological research. In the Sri Lankan context, attention will additionally be paid to how health ideology affects family planning behavior; more specifically, for whom a “safe period” constitutes a popular traditional mode of fertility control.2 Turning to family planning programs in Sri Lanka, we will suggest that the provision of fertility cycle education for the 25–35 year old age cohort could result in a more effective usage of safe period with condoms as a popular means of birth control. While most members of this group have expressed a marked desire for birth postponement and spacing, they presently underutilize modern family planning methods (Contraceptive Prevalence Survey 1983).