HIST 277 Reproductive Justice Histories
This course explores reproductive politics and reproductive health in North America/U.S. from the 17th to the 21st century using the lens of Reproductive Justice (RJ). RJ is a practice, a theory, and a movement conceptualized by women of color—and particularly Black women—in the 1990s. Its tenets include three interrelated values: the right not to have children, the right to have children, and the right to parent children “in safe and healthy environments.” (Loretta J. Ross, 2017). The course centers the intellectual and organizing work of women of color who have led the struggle for reproductive justice and community wellbeing. Using an intersectional RJ framework, the course examines histories of midwifery, abortion, contraception, and sterilization as well as social movements for reproductive rights and community health. Through historical documents, first-person accounts, films, and interdisciplinary scholarship, we will analyze how colonialism, enslavement, and constructions of racial and gender inequality shaped lived experiences of reproductive injustice in contexts of environmental and institutional precarity. One important goal of this course is to make connections between historical studies of reproductive health and present-day RJ activism through involvement in a community based collective research project.
Cross Listed Courses
BLST 277