Race and Reproductive Politics

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Moving beyond a simplistic "pro-choice versus pro-life" framework, this course invites students to study the complex ways in which reproduction is both political and racialized—how fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, adoption, parenting, and caregiving are defined by power relations, shaped by material conditions, and linked with the unequal distribution of resources and life chances on a global scale. What factors influence a person's ability to have children, to not have children, and to raise children they do have in safe and sustainable communities? How do the structural violences of racism, capitalism, ableism, and imperialism shape meanings and experiences of reproduction in the U.S., in local contexts around the world, and across national borders? How have diverse social movements organized to fight reproductive oppression and to build more just futures? Our exploration of these questions will lead us to a wide variety of historical and contemporary sites where reproduction intersects with systems of power and practices of resistance. At the heart of our inquiry will be the understanding, established by Black and Indigenous feminist scholars and activists, that reproduction is a key aspect of social justice, and we will focus in particular on the intersections of gender and sexuality with racial, economic, environmental, and decolonial justice. Students will contribute to the course syllabus by sharing their own research on contemporary issues, policy, and activism. Our learning will be discussion-based, collaborative, and exploratory.