Spring 2022

Black Women and Reproductive Justice in the African Diaspora

Listed in: American Studies, as AMST-296  |  Black Studies, as BLST-296  |  Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies, as SWAG-296

Faculty

Jallicia A. Jolly (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as AMST 296, BLST 296 [D] and SWAG 296). This course explores the transnational politics of race, gender, sexuality, and health from interdisciplinary perspectives. It engages a range of texts and methodologies that locate the historical and contemporary experiences of Afro-diasporic women and girls in the struggle for embodied freedom, autonomy, and reproductive justice. We will draw on examples from Africa and the African diaspora (U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America) as we engage the main debates in reproductive justice around key issues: sexual and reproductive health and rights; HIV/AIDS; sexual autonomy and choice; sterilization; police brutality; the right to bear children; abortion. The course will also introduce students to theories about health and illness, embodiment and subjectivity, critical race theory, ethnography, black feminist theory, and postcolonial health science studies. Class field trips to reproductive justice organizations will also provide an experiential component that grounds our inquiries.

Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Post-Doctoral Fellow Jolly.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: emphasis on written work, critical reflections, qualitative work, group-based discussions, community-engaged learning through field work or trips, cultural analysis, ethnographic analysis, a study of reproductive justice and interconnections among social movements; open engagements with the body, difference, and nuanced interrogations of the inner-workings of power; and unsettling racism, sexism, and colonialism in a global context. Students with documented disabilities who will require accommodations in this course should be in consultation with Accessibility Services and reach out to the faculty member as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations can be made in a timely manner.

This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.

ISBN Title Publisher Author(s) Comment Book Store Price
Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy and Premature Birth New York University Press Davis, Dána-Ain TBD
Birthing Black Mothers Duke University Press Nash, Jennifer TBD
Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare Civitas Books Roberts, Dorothy TBD
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction University of California Press Ross, Loretta & Solinger, Rickie TBD
Dying to Count: Post-Abortion Care and Global Reproductive Health Politics in Senegal (Medical Anthropology) Rutgers University Press Suh, Siri TBD

Offerings

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2025