Reproduction: Policy, Politics, and Practice
A Syllabus
University of California, Riverside/2017/trawa001@ucr.edu/Summer Session 1/Office Hours 5–6 PM, Tuesday & Thursday
Assignments
Group Work: Podcasts 25% (Choose one reproduction policy and debate with group mates/due week 4
Articles 1: 25% (Week 3)
Article 2: 25% (Final)
Attendance: 25%
Week 1: Re/production & Marx
June 29, 2017
Read: Gayatri Spivak’s “Womb Envy”
Week 2: Reproduction & Racism
July 6, 2017
Read: Ariel Smith’s “Which Version of Sanger Should We Believe?” (2017)
Watch: Season 1, Episode 1 of The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016)
Oklahoma House Bill 1441 (2017)
- Guest Lecture from Planned Parenthood — Jacqueline Casillas, MPH
Week 3: Reproduction, Race, & Class
July 11, 2017: TRAP Laws and Intersectionality
Read: The Hyde Amendment and its effects on poor women
Screen: Dawn Porter’s The Racial Politics of Abortion (Part 1 and 2)
Read: Spillers, Hortense J. 1987. “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book.” Diacritics.
July 13, 2017: Science and Sovereignty
“TO MAKE LIVE AND TO LET DIE” — M. Foucault
Read: Steinem, Gloria. 1978. “If Men Could Menstruate.” Ms. Magazine.
Read: “Efficacy and Safety of an Injectable Combination Hormonal Contraceptive for Men.” (2016) Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
July 14, 2017 — Article 1 Due
Week 4: Reproduction, the Nation, and Development
July 18, 2017: The Political-Economy of Sexuality
The UNFPA Debate
& The Kemp-Kasten Amendment
Read: Gayle Rubin’s “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the politics of Sexuality”
July 20, 2017: Reproduction of Labor and Sterilization (To Make a Person Unable to Produce)
Read: Gayle Rubin’s “The Traffic in Women: The ‘Political-Economy’ of Sex”
Read: Sterilization of women in Puerto Rico
Read: The Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities
Sexual and reproductive rights are fundamental human rights. They embrace human rights that are already recognised in international, regional and national legal frameworks, standards and agreements.1 They include the right to autonomy and self-determination — the right of everyone to make free and informed decisions and have full control over their body, sexuality, health, relationships, and if, when and with whom to partner, marry and have children — without any form of discrimination, stigma, coercion or violence. This includes the right of everyone to enjoy and express their sexuality, be free from interference in making personal decisions about sexuality and reproductive matters, and to access sexual and reproductive health information, education, services and support. It also includes the right to be free from torture and from cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; and to be free from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
In class research: find non-U.S. feminist human rights organizations focused on reproductive health and explain their mission.
- Example: CREA (New Delhi, India)
Week 5: The Government of Life
July 24, 2017 — Podcast Due
July 25, 2017: Free Market, Trapped Persons
Group Presentations
Lecture on Origins of Foucault’s Theory on Biopower
July 27, 2017: The Little Blue Pill and Biopower
Read: Chapter 11 of Foucault’s Society Must Be Defended
July 30, 2017 — Article 2 Due
