Twentieth-century Culture and the Reproductive Body:
Bridging Disciplinary Divides
The reproductive body is a site uniquely situated at the intersection of the most
intimate human experience and the broadest structures of social power. Its
powerful operation at the levels of symbolic representation, macro-economic and
political realities, and the experiences of everyday life has taken on increasing
significance across the twentieth century into our current climate in the
twenty-first. Questions of reproduction and power, as well as those
focused on gender and sexuality, have taken on a fresh urgency across the globe
in recent years. Given the nature of the reproductive body as a particularly overdetermined site for the interaction of the individual and broader structures of cultural power, we feel the need for new
interdisciplinary approaches to these subjects.
Papers and panel proposals on any topic from any discipline or combination of disciplines are welcome. Topics may include but certainly are not limited to:
abortion
birth control
conception and conceiving
marks of failure within the reproductive body
literary and other textual material addressed to the reproductive subject
narratives of pregnancy, including those of concealment of pregnancy
menopause and aging reproductive bodies
hormone research
reproduction in feminist philosophy and art
surrogacy and other forms of assisted reproduction
reproduction and race
the reproductive body in the global marketplace:
tissue economy, egg and sperm donation
surrogacy
male reproductive bodies
trans reproduction and queer families
eugenic histories
reproductive tissue collections: placentas, discarded embryos, aborted foetuses
reproduction and visual culture
reproduction, media and mediation
Please send abstracts of 250 words or less toMeredith Miller: MillerM4@cardiff.ac.uk by 1st September 2023
