International conference at University Erlangen-Nürnberg, July 3-4, 2025
Deadline: May 15, 2025
Call for Papers
International Conference: Representations of Reproductive Justice in the United States: Past, Present, Future(s)
July 3-4, 2025
Keynote: Alys E. Weinbaum (University of Washington)
Venue: Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Organizers: Dr. Ina Batzke (Augsburg) and Dr. Isabel Kalous (Erlangen)
This international conference invites scholars to explore how reproductive justice has been represented in literature, film, television, visual media, and other cultural texts across different historical periods. Grounded in Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger’s definition of reproductive justice – which encompasses the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent in safe and supportive environments – this conference seeks to examine the ways in which cultural narratives have shaped, contested, and reimagined reproductive rights.
We welcome contributions that engage with diverse depictions of reproductive experiences, including pregnancy, abortion, (non)motherhood, reproductive technologies, parenting, and gender roles. We especially encourage intersectional approaches that highlight how reproductive justice is shaped by race, age, class, sexuality, disability, migration, and nationhood. Additionally, we are interested in how cultural texts respond to legal, medical, and political frameworks of reproductive justice, from historical struggles to contemporary and speculative futures.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Representations of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experiences
- Queer and trans perspectives on reproductive justice
- Surrogacy, adoption, and kinship networks
- Reproductive coercion and reproduction resistance
- Narratives of abortion, contraception, and reproductive autonomy
- (Non)Motherhood and regretting motherhood
- Reproductive labor and care work in literature and media
- Reproductive technologies and bioethics in speculative fiction
- Eugenics, sterilization, and reproductive oppression
- Racialized and class-based reproductive policies
The conference will open on July 3 with a public keynote lecture by Alys E. Weinbaum on “Reproductive Dystopias.” July 4 will be dedicated to discussions and participant presentations. We are currently seeking 3–4 additional presenters for this day. If you are interested in participating, please submit an abstract (200–300 words) for a 20-minute presentation to the organizers (Ina.Batzke@philhist.uni-augsburg.de and Isabel.Kalous@fau.de) by May 15, 2025.