In the Red Sea Hills of eastern Sudan, where poverty, famines, and conflict loom large, women struggle to gain the status of responsible motherhood. But biological fate can be capricious in impoverished settings. This work shows how Muslim Hadendowa women manage health and reproductive suffering in their quest to become ""responsible"" mothers.

Anthropologist Amal Hassan Fadlalla is assistant professor of women's studies and Afro-American and African studies at the University of Michigan.