Place: Online Conference, event links will be sent to those who register.
Dates: February 3-7, 2021
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
We are grateful for sponsorship from the Ilza Veith Endowment of the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, The Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, The Department of History, The Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, The Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, The Center on Racism Immigration and Citizenship, The Center for Africana Studies, The Program in Latin American Studies, The Berman Institute of Bioethics, and the Department of Anthropology .
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 3
1:30 pm- 2:45 p.m.
Panel One: Historical Perspectives on Sterilization, Reproductive Governance, and Obstetric Violence
3:00-3:30 p.m.
Opening remarks from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
3:30- 5:00 p.m.
Keynote Discussion of Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth, by Dána-Ain Davis, Professor of Urban Studies and Anthropology and director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Featuring
Cara Page, Cultural/Memory Worker, Curator & Organizer
Karen Scott, Associate Professor and OBGYN Hospitalist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco
Deirdre Cooper-Owens, Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Carolyn Sufrin, Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Abortion Care During COVID-19: Front-Line Perspectives and the Limits of “Choice”
Talks and Q&A with Diane Horvath, MD, and Carolyn Sufrin, PhD, MD
2:30 – 3:45 p.m.
Panel Two: Historical Perspectives on Birth Control and Abortion in Bolivia, Brazil, China, and the U.S.
4:00- 5:15 p.m.
Panel Three: Reproduction, Racial Capitalism, and Family-Making in Barbados, South Africa, Mexico, and Canada
6:00- 8:15 p.m.
Documentary Film Screening: The Belly of the Beast, Exposé of Reproductive Injustice
Panel Discussion and Q&A with
Film Director Erika Cohn
Film Producer Angela Tucker
Film Participant Kelli Dillon
Film Participant Cynthia Chandler
Darien Colson-Fearon, MD Candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5
1:00 – 2:15
Panel Four: Race-Making in Public Health and Clinical Practice in South Africa, Central America, and South America
3:00 – 4:15
Panel Five: Pregnancy and Midwifery in Early Modern Medicine
5:00- 6:30 p.m.
Keynote Discussion of Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century by Brianna Theobald, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Rochester
Featuring
endawis Spears, Director of Programming & Outreach, Akomawt Educational Initiative
Elena Rebeca Gutiérrez, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies; and Latin American and Latino Studies
Jacki Thompson Rand, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Iowa
Sasha Turner, Associate Professor of History and the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6
11:00 a.m -12:15 p.m.
Panel Six: Race, Pain, and Care: Issues in Public Health and Clinical Practice in the U.S.
1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Workshop and Q&A with Rebecca Mwase, performance artist and cultural organizer
3:00- 4:30 p.m.
Keynote Discussion of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines, edited by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Mai’a Williams, and China Martens
Featuring
Victoria Law, freelance author, editor, and organizer
Kellee Coleman, organizer with Vibrant Woman/Mama Sana prenatal clinic
Tanay Lynn Harris, co-founder of the Bloom Collective Baltimore
Cecilia Caballero, PhD Candidate at the University of Southern California
China Martens, organizer, editor, and author
Mai’a Williams, journalist, organizer, editor, and author
Jessica Marie Johnson, Assistant Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7
11:00 a.m -12:15 p.m.
Panel Seven: Global Perspectives on Reproductive Governance and Obstetric Violence
1:00- 2:30 p.m.
Keynote Discussion of Taking Children: A History of American Terror by Laura Briggs, Professor of History at The University of Massachusetts Amherst and
Featuring
Rachel Nolan, Freelance journalist and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Boston
Nina Lakhani, Journalist for The Guardian and freelance author
Lina Rosa Berrío Palomo, Profesora-investigadora de Antropología Social en CIESAS Pacifico Sur
Alys Weinbaum, Professor of English at the University of Washington
Elizabeth O’Brien, Assistant Professor of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University
3:00- 4:15 p.m.
Panel Eight: Historical Perspectives on Enslavement, Resistance, and Reproductive Health/Care in Brazil and the U.S.
STATEMENT OF INTENT:
Scholars from across disciplines at the Johns Hopkins University and School of Medicine are organizing a conference entitled “Critical Conversations on Reproductive Health/Care: Past, Present, and Future,” to take place during the first week of February 2021.
This conference will bring together historians, anthropologists, pregnancy caregivers, artists, activists, and journalists to address key issues in the history of reproduction and the practice of reproductive medicine. We are particularly interested in how reproductions intersect with phenomenon such as, but not limited to: midwifery, parenting, and kinship-making; trauma in obstetric and abortion care; obstetric racism in the past and present; colonialism, migration, and displacement; and incarceration and detention.
The virtual meeting will consist of a series of conversations spread over multiple days, and with multiple forms of interaction. It will feature “reverse keynotes,” or discussions of key new books by leading scholars, as well as panel discussions about pre-circulated papers. In addition, there will be a documentary film screening and discussion, as well as community-centered discussions with maternal healthcare activists and artist Rebecca Mwase.
Recognizing that “reproduction” is a loaded term, in part, due to its capitalistic productive connotation, we intend to clarify the complexities of the term by interrogating reproduction as a site of intense struggle for healthcare access and justice; as the site of pressing issues regarding incarceration and decarceration; and as a site of the production and reification of settler-colonial and neo-colonial narratives about race, nation, and autonomy.
We further recognize that activists of color have redefined modern-liberal, whitecentered, and individualistic notions of reproductive choice, and that they have done so by promoting the intersectional teachings of reproductive justice. Inspired by this tradition—and recognizing our limits in engaging with it and drawing on its analytics in our own work—we aim to recognize and learn from historic legacies while envisioning reproductive futures based on dignity, solidarity, and historically-informed collective action.
We also aim to engage with the intimate aspects of reproductive care/taking, especially by unpacking complex notions of parenting, nurturing, and care. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis—which is laying bare the destructive logic of racial capitalism—we recognize that there is no way to “go back to normal.” We must instead envision a radically different future, guided by questions of what kind of society are we producing, reproducing, and nurturing. Can we insist on the value of reproductive labor without ascribing a moralized or normative view of caretaking? How do these discourses come to bear on reproductive health/care, past and present?
CALLL FOR PAPERS (CLOSED):
We welcome proposals for papers on various aspects of reproduction, from any epoch and place, such as (but not limited to) those that seek to:
- Examine gender and reproduction in early modern and pre-modern times.
- Engage with the history and practice of nursing and midwifery, especially in light of the World Health Assembly’s designation of 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
- Explore the boundaries between reproduction, parenting, and reproductive labor.
- Reimagine health/care by interrogating the ways that communities, healthcare systems, and universities engage with the social structures that define or provide access to high-quality reproductive healthcare; historicize the barriers to accessing high-quality reproductive healthcare.
- Expose the history and practice of obstetric violence; highlight grassroots, scholarly, and legal activism against violations of people’s dignity during reproduction and childbirth.
- Interrogate the use of racialized risk calculators in obstetric and reproductive healthcare.
- Examine affect and emotion in reproductive healthcare, including people’s responses to emergency medical procedures such as hysterectomy.
- Analyze how reproduction intersects with mass incarceration, decarceration, depopulation, and abolition.
- Address immigration and reproduction of the national body politic by analyzing detention and the use of violence to force the reproductive, care-based, and family choices of migrants, refugees, and their families; including, for example, the forced separation of migrants and refugees from their children.
Please submit a summary of your proposed contribution, approximately one page in length, by 15 September 2020 to the e-mail address criticalreproductivecare2021@gmail.com.
We ask you to state whether your contribution will take the form of a pre-circulated paper or video. Videos can contain the reading of a paper or another kind of contribution. Papers or videos will be circulated via a password-protected platform one month before the event, and panels will consist of group discussions of those contributions. Alternative formats to share your knowledge can also be proposed. There will be no charge for participation. The conference languages are English and Spanish, and we welcome proposals in either language.
We are grateful to generous sponsorship from the Johns Hopkins University Department of the History of Medicine, The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, The Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, The Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, The Center on Racism Immigration and Citizenship, The Center for Africana Studies, The Program in Latin American Studies, and The Berman Institute of Bioethics.
Convocatoria para la presentación de ponencias: “Diálogos Críticos Sobre la Medicina Reproductiva: Pasado, Presente, y Futuro.”
Lugar: Online
Fechas: Semana del 1º al 7 de febrero de 2021
Idiomas: Ingles y español
Profesores, investigadores, y médicos de la Universidad de Johns Hopkins y la Escuela de Medicina de Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD), organizarán un congreso llamado “Diálogos Críticos Sobre la Medicina Reproductiva: Pasado, Presente, y Futuro”, el cuál se llevará a cabo durante la primera semana del mes de febrero del año 2021.
Este congreso reunirá a historiadores, antropólogos, trabajadores de la salud maternal, artistas, activistas, y periodistas para abordar aspectos claves en la historia de la reproducción y la práctica de la medicina reproductiva. Nos interesa revisar especialmente la forma en que las reproducciones se interrelacionan con fenómenos como: la partería, la crianza de los hijos, los traumas en la atención obstétrica, la interrupción voluntaria del embarazo; el racismo obstétrico en el pasado y el presente; el colonialismo, la migración y el desplazamiento, así como la encarcelación y la detención de mujeres, migrantes y niños, entre otros temas.
El encuentro virtual consistirá en una serie de charlas y conferencias durante varios días con multiples formas de interacción en línea. Contará con “discursos inaugurales al reves,” o discusiones de nuevos libros de destacados académicos, así como mesas de discusión sobre ponencias pre-circuladas. Además, el congreso contará con la proyección de un documental, una discusión con activistas de la salud materna, y la participación de la artista Rebecca Mwase.
Reconociendo que “la reproducción” es una categoria de análisis compleja, en parte, debido a su connotación con la producción capitalista; nos proponemos clarificar las complejidades del término, interrogando la reproducción como un sitio de intensa lucha por el acceso a la asistencia y la justicia médica. También como el lugar de problemas apremiantes relativos a la encarcelación y la decarcelación; y como escenario de la producción y codificación de las narrativas coloniales y neo-coloniales sobre la raza, la etnicidad, la nación, y la autonomía.
Por otra parte, reconocemos que los activistas de color han redefinido los paradigmas de los derechos reproductivos, que solían ser centrados bajo una mirada individualista, eurocéntrica y proveniente de una ideología moderno-liberal. Inspirados por esta tradición crítica -y reconociendo nuestros limites al comprometernos con ella y al utilizar sus análisis en nuestro propio trabajo-, nos orientamos a reconocer y aprender de los legados históricos, al tiempo que visualizamos futuros reproductivos basados en la dignidad, la solidaridad, y la acción colectiva históricamente informada.
También nos comprometemos con los aspectos íntimos del labor y cuidado reproductivo, especialmente desentrañar las nociones complejas relacionadas con la crianza, el afecto y la labor emocional de los cuidados reproductivos.
En el contexto de la crisis mundial del COVID-19, que ha expuesto la lógica destructiva del capitalismo racial, admitimos que no hay manera de volver a la “normalidad.” Por el contrario, consideramos que es necesario imaginar un futuro radicalmente diferente guiados por preguntas como: ¿Qué tipo de sociedad estamos produciendo, reproduciendo y fomentando?, ¿Podemos insistir en el valor del trabajo reproductivo sin atribuir una visión moralizada o normativa de la atención? ¿De qué manera estos discursos se relacionan con la salud/cuidado reproductivo, en el pasado y el presente?
Son bienvenidas las ponencias sobre cualquier aspecto de reproducción, de cualquier época y lugar, tal como las que se anuncian a continuación:
- Examinar el género y la reproducción en tiempos pre-modernos y en la modernidad temprana
- Involucrarse con la historia y la práctica de la enfermería y la partería, especialmente a la luz de la designación por parte de la Asamblea Mundial de la Salud del año 2020 como el Año Internacional de la Enfermera y la Partera.
- Explorar las diferencias entre la reproducción, la crianza de los hijos, y el labor reproductivo.
- Reconceptualizar la asistencia/médica, interrogando las maneras en que las comunidades, los sistemas de salud, y las universidades interactúan con los sistemas sociales que definen o proporcionan el acceso a la atención medica reproductiva de alta calidad.
- Exponer la historia y la práctica de la violencia obstétrica; resaltar el rol del activismo académico y legal contra las violaciones de la dignidad humana durante la reproducción y el parto.
- Interrogar la racialización de los “calculadores de riesgo” en la atención médica obstétrica y reproductiva.
- Examinar el afecto y la emoción en la asistencia medica, incluyendo las respuestas de las personas a los procedimientos médicos de emergencia como la histerectomía.
- Analizar cómo la reproducción se cruza con el encarcelamiento masivo, la decarcelación, la despoblación y la abolición. Abordar la inmigración y la reproducción del cuerpo político (body politic), analizando la detención y el uso de violencia para influenciar las decisiones reproductivas de los migrantes, los refugiados y sus familias; incluyendo, por ejemplo, la separación forzada de migrantes y refugiados de sus hijos.
Para postularse, por favor envíe un resumen de su propuesta de ponencia aproximadamente de una pagina, antes del 15 de septiembre del 2020, al correo
electrónico criticalreproductivecare2021@gmail.com.
Las ponencias pueden ser presentadas en un formato de ensayo o video el cuál debe especificar al momento de presentar su ponencia. Sin embargo, aceptamos otros formatos alternativos para compartir sus conocimientos. (Los videos podrán contener el ensayo u otro tipo de contribución).
Para este congreso los documentos o vídeos se distribuirán un mes antes su inauguración (a través de una plataforma protegida por una contraseña), y los paneles consistirán en conversaciones en grupo sobre estas contribuciones. La participación será gratuita. Los idiomas de la conferencia son en inglés y español, y se aceptan propuestas en cualquiera de los dos idiomas.
Agradecemos el respaldo generoso de los siguientes facultades y institutos de Johns Hopkins University y Escuela de Medicina: The Department of the History of Medicine, The Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, The Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, The Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, The Center on Racism Immigration and Citizenship, The Center for Africana Studies, The Program in Latin American Studies, and The Berman Institute of Bioethics.