ENGL 600
Natality, Mothers, Mothering
Fall 2026
Topics
- Philosophy of birth
- Mothering and politics
- Black and queer motherhood
- Maternal memoir
- Reproductive choice
Readings
- Possible reading: Gil Anidjar: On the Sovereignty of Mothers: The Political as Maternal
- Possible reading: Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition
- Possible reading: Jennifer Banks: Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth
- Possible reading: Lette Bragg. The Ruins of Solitude: Maternity at the Limits of Academic Discourse
- Possible reading: Alexis Pauline Gumbs, China Martens, and Mai’a Williams: Revolutionary Mothering: Love on The Front Lines
- Possible reading: Sarah Knott: Mother Is a Verb: An Unconventional History
- Possible reading: Naomi Morgenstern: Wild Child: Intensive Parenting and Posthumanist Ethics
- Possible reading: Adrienne Rich: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution
- Possible reading: Alison Stone: Being Born: Birth and Philosophy
- Possible reading: Zadie Smith: NW
- Possible reading: Rachel Cusk: A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother
- Possible reading: Maggie Nelson: The Argonauts
- Possible reading: Sheila Heti: Motherhood
- Possible reading: A. K. Summers: Pregnant Butch: Nine Long Months Spent in Drag
- Possible reading: Megan Hunter: The End We Start From
- Possible reading: Mieko Kawakami: Breasts and Eggs
Sources
- Official course page ↗Fall 2026
- Departmental seminar description with reading information when supplied; not a full syllabus. The entire reading list is explicitly tentative (“may include”). Original source course code is absent from the 2026–2027 master catalogue; historical/source numbering is preserved.