WombWor(l)ds: Transcultural Echoes on Reproductive Justice

Description

The Right to Have a Child

This seminar will delve into the complexities of motherhood as portrayed in women’s writing, exploring narratives that address the right to have a child. In particular it will examine narratives about obstetric violence and labour-related trauma, infanticide as resistance to patriarchal motherhood and practices of communal storytelling in queer motherhood narratives.

“Childbirth and Reproductive Justice: Narratives of Trauma and Empowerment”, Laura Lazzari (The Sasso Corbaro Foundation for the Medical Humanities, Switzerland, and Georgetown University);
“Fantasizing Maternal Infanticide: Negotiation of Cultural Hybridity and Motherhood in Chinese American Literature”, Sarah Fang Tang (Wuhan Institute of Technology);
“The Ethics and Aesthetics of the Small: Interdependency in Contemporary Queer Motherhood Memoirs”, Alice Hall (University of York).


All are welcome to attend this free seminar, which will be held online via Zoom at 17:00 GMT (UK time). You will need to register in advance to receive the online joining link. Please click on the Book Now button at the top of the page to register.

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Programme
28 October
The Right Not to Have a Child

11 November
The Right to Have a Child

25 November
The Right to Parent Children in Safe and Healthy Environments

9 December
Closing Roundtable


“Issues of procreation are the most troubling, disconcerting, confounding, divisive – and (therefore) interesting ones confronting feminism.” Barbara Katz Rothman, 1997

As a concept, activist struggle, and lived reality, reproductive justice encapsulates some of the most urgent and contentious issues of our time. From the right to have children, to the right not to have children, to the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments, reproductive justice touches on deep-seated ecological, social, and economic inequities. These rights are unevenly distributed around the world, reflecting wider patterns of injustice and inequality. In this seminar series, the focus on reproductive justice brings together speakers whose research spans diverse topics such as bodily autonomy, healthcare access, motherhood, and global human rights. Contributors delve into contemporary women’s writing from various cultures and languages, drawing on feminist, gender, and sexuality studies, postcolonial studies, literary studies, and the medical and environmental humanities.

WombWor(l)ds is a vibrant and transformative dialogue, an intricate weave of worlds and words that traverses global narratives to uncover the deeply personal and profoundly political stakes of reproductive rights. Anchored by the core principles – the right to choose not to have a child, the right to bear a child, and the right to parent in nurturing and secure environments – this series amplifies the voices and stories of women writers worldwide, highlighting their contributions to the discourse on reproductive justice. Through this lens, WombWor(l)ds illuminates the intersection of literature and activism, transforming narrative into a powerful force for understanding, empowerment and social change.

Seminar series convened by Veronica Frigeni (Central European University/York University) for ILCS's Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women’s Writing. Image: courtesy of courtesy of artist Federico Clapis, entitled "Grieving Conceptions - Flooded, 2022".