[Equal] REMINDER: Call for Papers for the international Workshop "Contested Reproductive Rights in Turbulent Times: Interrogating the Politics, Ethics, and Practices of Reproduction from Feminist and Intersectional Perspectives", 13-15 May 2020, Bochum (Germany)

Tue Sep 24 10:56:59 CEST 2019

Dear colleagues,

 attached please find a call for papers for the international workshop
"Contested Reproductive Rights in Turbulent Times: Interrogating the
Politics, Ethics, and Practices of Reproduction from Feminist and
Intersectional Perspectives", which will take place on 13-15 May 2020 at
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. The workshop is organised by the Chair
of Sociology/Social Inequality and Gender. 

 Please disseminate the cfp to your networks, mailing lists, websites
and interested people and feel free to submit an abstract!

 The cfp can also be found at our websites:
 http://www.sowi.rub.de/sozsug/
 http://www.sowi.rub.de/sozsug/index.html.en

 Deadline for abstracts is October 31st 2019. 

 Best regards

 Amelie Veenema 

 ===
 student research assistant

 Ruhr-Universität Bochum / Ruhr University Bochum
 Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaft / Faculty of Social Science
 Lehrstuhl für Soziologie / Soziale Ungleichheit und Geschlecht
 Chair of Sociology / Social Inequality and Gender
 Postal address: Universitätsstr. 150, D-44801 Bochum, Germany
 www.sowi.rub.de/sozsug [1] 
 Fon: +49 (0)234 32-22267
 Fax: +49 (0)234 32-14502 
 === 

 CALL FOR PAPERS 

 CONTESTED REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN TURBULENT TIMES: 
 INTERROGATING THE POLITICS, ETHICS, AND PRACTICES OF REPRODUCTION
 FROM FEMINIST AND INTERSECTIONAL PERSPECTIVES

 INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
 OF THE CHAIR OF SOCIOLOGY/SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND GENDER

 RUHR UNIVERSITY BOCHUM (GERMANY), 13–15 MAY 2020 

 Reproductive rights began to develop as a subset of human rights at the
United Nation's 1968 International Conference on Human Rights. It took
until 1994 as they were first defined at the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo and included in the Bejing
Platform in 1995. In Western cultures and politics, reproductive rights
comprise the physical and mental wellbeing in relation to all areas of
human sexuality and reproduction. This includes the freedom of choice
with regard to the individual's family planning, e.g. if, when and with
whom a family should be formed, how big this family should become, and
how a family should be lived and done. 

 The concept of reproductive rights is highly contested since its
introduction. This is not only the case among feminists with different
social, cultural and geopolitical backgrounds. Even more the concept of
reproductive rights is used for the neo-liberal transnational
marketisation of reproductive technologies and the development of
bio-sciences neo-conservative political and Christian as well as Islamic
forces are organising resistance against it on various local and global
levels. This tense situation is framed by a demographic situation that
on one hand is shaped by low fertility rates in many parts of the
Western world since the 1970's and on the other hand consists of an
ongoing population growth, especially in many parts of Africa and Asia.
Political attempts to raise the fertility rates in the Western world and
to limit them in those parts of the world where fertility rates are
considered as being too high, are restricted by political, legal and
ethical boundaries and furthermore do not seem to be very successful. 

 The international and interdisciplinary workshop aims at analysing the
concept of reproductive rights and the politics, ethics, and practices
of reproduction from a critical perspective which is informed by
feminist and intersectional perspectives. Special attention is paid to
comparative aspects, also with regard to different geopolitical,
sociocultural, and historical contexts. 

 We welcome offers of both theoretical and empirical academic papers, in
particular those concerning the following themes and related questions: 

 	* How do (national and transnational) politics and policies refer to
reproductive rights? Which roles do pro- or antinatalism play in gender,
family and population politics? How is the pro- or antinatalism linked
to nationalist, right-wing populist, religious, or even postcolonial
aspects? Are there any taboos concerning population politics and, if so,
why? How does politics address the population in order to stop the
fertility decline in the Western world and/or to stop the population
growth especially in parts of Africa and Asia, and which policies are
introduced to support these aims? Which role do gender (in)equality,
intersectionality and (hetero)sexuality play in these policies?
 	* Some feminists have argued that motherhood strengthens female
oppression and gender inequality, whereas others have argued that
motherhood can also stand for women's emancipation and freedom. What can
we learn from social practices in different societies about the
contribution of motherhood to women's emancipation? In what respect does
family formation and having a family play a role in men's identities and
life plans? Which new lifestyles beyond the heterosexual gendered family
model are emerging in the light of reproductive rights? And what about
(in)voluntary childlessness, abortion, assisted reproductive technology,
and the marketisation of parenthood (including surrogate motherhood),
which are still orientated to the heteronormative model of gender and
generational relationships? 
 	* How do recent attempts to redefine the family and parenthood as
primarily social and not biological institutions challenge the modern
understanding of the (nation) state which is based on the ideas of
heterosexuality, marriage, and biological parenthood? How do states,
politics and legal systems react to these challenges? How could a
revision of statehood look like which takes the concept of reproductive
rights seriously and creates gender-equitable politics and policies of
reproduction? What possible ideas of new societal models to organise
social reproduction and to divide labour are emerging in public and
private spheres in the light of reproductive rights, and (how) are the
introduced new institutional arrangements gendered?

Both junior and senior scientists are invited to submit an abstract
(between 500 and 800 words on the topic, objectives and research
questions plus, if applicable, the empirical background of the paper) in
form of a Word- or pdf-document. Abstracts should also include FULL
contact details, including your name, institutional affiliation, mailing
address, and e-mail address. ABSTRACTS SHOULD BE SENT UNTIL OCTOBER
31ST, 2019 TO HEIKE KAHLERT (CONFERENCE-SOZSUG at RUB.DE).* DEADLINE FOR
NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION OF THE PAPER IS NOVEMBER 30TH, 2019.  

 The workshop is an opportunity to discuss 'work in progress' and
research results as well as to form networks for further international
collaborations. Therefore, admitted papers will be discussed in small
working groups which will continue to work together throughout the whole
workshop. The papers (with a maximum length of 7.000 words) will be due
on March 31st, 2020, and will be delivered to all participants of the
workshop. All participants are expected to read the papers in advance.
During the workshop, the authors will introduce their papers briefly,
and each participant will comment on one paper. Selected papers will be
published.

_ !Note: We apologise for the fact that no funding, fee waiver, travel
or other bursaries can be offered for attending the workshop! The
workshop fee (max. EUR150) will cover conference material and catering
during coffee and lunch breaks._

Links:
------
[1] http://www.sowi.rub.de/sozsug
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