Article ID: CBB836159819

Seizing the Means of Reproduction? Canada, Cancer Screening, and the Colonial History of the Cytopipette (2021)

unapi

In recent years, self-sampling has emerged as a compelling way of increasing cervical cancer screening rates within First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. By allowing women to take their own samples in private, when and where they are most comfortable, home testing kits have been framed as a new, unequivocally feminist technology, and a panacea in Indigenous health. But are these techniques really as ethical and empowering as they have been made out to be? To answer this question, this article traces the history of the uptake and use of cervical cancer screening technologies in Canada. By tracing the mechanics and motivations of two state-sponsored cervical cancer screening studies carried out by Canada’s Department of Indian Health Services during the mid to late twentieth century, this piece explores the settler-colonial roots of cancer surveillance, and shows how the implementation of both Pap-testing and DIY forms of screening within Indigenous communities has, at least historically, been more about enacting biopolitical regimes than promoting feminist ideals or improving health outcomes.

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Authors & Contributors
Lux, Maureen K.
Dyck, Erika
Carstairs, Catherine
Vandenberg, Helen
Luedee, Jonathan
Martin, Wanda
Concepts
Public health
Medicine and gender
Medicine and government
Colonialism
Reproductive medicine
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
21st century
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
Places
Canada
United States
Middle and Near East
India
Guyana; British Guiana
Alberta, Canada
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