Birth in the Nation: Reproduction in the United States

4.0 credits

Why did fertility rates decline over the nineteenth century? Why did women begin choosing hospital rather than home births in the twentieth century? What difference have the Pill and other reproductive technologies made in shaping how women think about pregnancy and childbirth? Why have breastfeeding rates been rising since the 1970s? How have womens reproductive experiences differed along lines of race and class? In this course, we will consider these questions and more as we explore how womens reproductive experiences and the meanings attached to such experiences have changed over time and why. This is a research seminar, so students will further explore these issues through their own research and writing on some aspect of the history of reproduction. Readings and discussions will focus on the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but students may explore the location and period of their choice in their papers.