Annotation
This course focuses on the intersectional relationships between the politics of reproduction and the constructions of gender, sexuality, race and nation in a variety of historical and socio-political contexts. Constructions of gender and race have historically been the primary categories, which have determined and maintained the imperatives of reproduction in society. Reproduction is not just a biological process, as Gerlinda Smausova reminds us, it is also a process, which contains more restrictions than prescriptions about who, when and how can and should reproduce. Cultural norms, social institutions and public discourses significantly influence both the social understandings and political/legal expressions of reproduction as well as determine the choices and experiences individuals can have and actively exercise. This course will examine the intersections of stratified reproduction, gender, sexuality, race and nation in order to explore what these reveal about social discourses on "proper" reproductive practices, parenthood, desired nationhood, contemporary eugenics and social justice in the globalized world. Covered Topics:
1. Scientific Racism and Racial Violence as a Tool of Colonial Rule
2. Gender and Race in Nazi Population Policy
3. Population Policy and Eugenics as Social Policy
4. Discourses of Reproduction in Communist Eastern Europe
5. Contraception and Sterilization - Emancipation, Discipline, and Eugenics
6. Birth as a Civilizational Discourse
7. Abortion Discourses - Race, Nation, and Morality
8. Reproduction as Business - International Adoptions and Reproductive Tourism
9. Non-Heterosexual Parenthood
10. Men and Reproductive Rights
11. Transnational Parenthood and Reproduction
12. Assisted Reproduction - IVF, Gender Selection, Genetic Screening
12. New Reproductive Technologies - Uterus Transplants, Surrogate Motherhood