Gestation: Justice

This event is part of the IAS Annual Theme 2023-24 - Gestation: Bodies, Technologies, Ecologies, Justice.

As reproductive rights and freedoms currently face attacks internationally and gestational inequalities continue to be exposed, there has been much innovative rethinking around gender, kinship, reproduction, motherhood and care. Gestation has been weaponised in eugenics and genocide, as in eco-fascist rhetoric surrounding population. Feminist and queer theorists propose alternative, sometimes utopian societal arrangements to overturn hierarchies of patriarchal colonialism, rethinking gestation beyond narrow hetero- and cisnormative understandings. Meanwhile, international cultural, political and legal frameworks around gestation vary greatly, indicating myriad and complex needs.  

This roundtable brings together diverse scholars working across medicine, political philosophy, communications and behavioural science to consider existing inequities and their intersections, and how expanded concepts of gestation may lead to greater justice. 

Chair: 
Dr Pandora Syperek (IDI, LUL)  

Featuring IAS Visiting Fellows: 
Ms Nompumelelo Gumede (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) 
Dr Sophie Lewis (Independent, Philadelphia, USA) 

Plus guest speakers: 
Dr Burçe Çelik (IMCI, LUL) 
Dr Pragya Agarwal (SSH, LU - Visiting Professor of Social Inequities and Injustice)  

Lunch will be served in between this event and the previous one, Gestation: Ecologies, which finishes at 12 noon.

This event is hybrid format, please use the required booking button at the bottom of the page to choose either in-person or online attendance.

(Please note that in-person spaces are limited and booking is required, so we can manage numbers for catering and also the space in the seminar room)

By booking a place at this event, attendees agree to behave in a respectful manner such that everyone feels comfortable contributing as they wish. The IAS reserves the right to eject anyone who does not abide by this policy.

IAS seminars are typically recorded, minus any Q&A sessions at the end, again to encourage contributions. The recordings are then uploaded to our website on a Fellows bio page and/or Programme page, along with our IAS YouTube Channel. If you are not able to attend a seminar live, please do still register as we will email everyone who registered to let them know once the recordings are made available.