Sociology of Reproduction and Birth
SOCIOLOGY 4863
Spring 2003
T,H 9:30-10:45
CH 254
Dr. Lara Foley
Office: Chapman 210
Phone: 631-2050
E-mail: lara-foley@utulsa.edu
Office Hours: T,H 11:00-12:00
Webpage: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~lara-foley
Important Information
1. Discrimination, harassment, or intimidation will not be tolerated. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, but should also remember that others also have the right to a classroom free from hostility, ridicule, or embarrassment, and an atmosphere conducive to learning. Every student is expected to participate in a responsible and mature manner that enhances education. Any conduct that disrupts the learning process may lead to disciplinary action.
2. See the Student Handbook for the University of Tulsa’s policies on plagiarism and academic misconduct. You are responsible for understanding what plagiarism is and avoiding it. If you have questions, please ask me.
3. Students with disabilities should contact the Center for Student Academic Support to self-identify their need in order to facilitate their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center for Student Academic Support is in Holmes Student Center, Room 59.
4. All students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with and take advantage of services provided by the Center for Student Academic Support such as tutoring, academic counseling, and developing study skills. The center for Student Academic Support provides confidential consultations to any student with academic concerns as well as to students with disabilities.
Course Description
The course will be an exploration of the historical, social, cultural, legal, and political climate surrounding reproduction, pregnancy, and birth in the 19th and 20th century United States. We will examine how the material conditions of a society influence and affect laws and policies, representations and experiences. In the process of these explorations, we will pay attention to various theoretical perspectives surrounding men’s and women’s bodies, reproduction, birth, and parenthood.
We will also explore men’s and women’s experiences of these events. We will discuss resistance, agency, and activism in relation to reproduction and birth. Central to the course will be the way in which men’s and women’s experiences vary depending on social locations of age, race, class, religion, and sexuality.
Required Texts
Tone, Andrea. 1997. Controlling Reproduction: An American History. Wilmington, DE: SR Books.
Solinger, Rickie (ed.). 1998. Abortion Wars: A Half Century of Struggle, 1950-2000. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Marsiglio, William and Sally Hutchinson. 2002. Sex, Men, and Babies: Stories of Awareness and Responsibility. New York: New York University Press.
Klassen, Pamela. 2001. Blessed Events: Religion and Home Birth in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Davis-Floyd, Robbie and Joseph Dumit (eds.). 1998. Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots. New York: Routledge.
Instructor’s Expectations:
As a student in this course you will be expected to:
1. Attend class on a regular basis.
2. Be prepared for class: have a writing instrument and paper in your possession; have read the assigned material prior to class.
3. Show a basic level of respect and common courtesy to the instructor and your colleagues: arrive for class on time, remain quiet during lecture and when others are asking questions.
4. Participate in class: If something is covered in lecture or in the text which you do not understand, ASK A QUESTION (chances are at least one or more of your colleagues will have the same or similar question). The instructor is not a mind reader: the mere presence of confusion or confused expressions on students’ faces does not necessarily set off an internal alarm which warns her to go back over the material a second time. You will be held responsible for the assigned material on the examinations, so it is in your best interest to ask questions.
5. Participate in class: If you have a comment you would like to interject which is pertinent to the material being covered, make the instructor aware of this fact in a polite fashion and by all means share your insights, experiences, and opinions with the professor and your fellow students.
2 Exams @ 20% 40%
Discussion Leaders 15%
Annotated Bibliography 10%
Research Paper outline 5%
Research Paper 30%
Exams (midterm and final)
You will have a take-home mid-term and a take-home final. These exams will be made up of essay questions based on course material (readings, lectures, films, etc.)
The class will split into three groups. Each group will be responsible for one text (either Abortion Wars; Sex, Men, and Babies; or Blessed Events). The group will provide discussion questions for the class for each day’s readings and will be primarily responsible for class discussion each day that we are reading the assigned book.
Students will write a 8-10 page research paper on a topic or problem related to any of the questions or issues raised in the syllabus and/or the reading materials. More details will be handed out in class.
Important Dates:
Jan. 21 – Library Day (meet in the North Lab of McFarlin Library on the Plaza Level)
Jan. 30 – Research Proposal Due
Feb. 13 – Annotated Bibliography Due
March 6 – Outline of Research Paper Due
March 13 – Midterm Exam Due
April 24 – Research Paper Due
May 1 – final exam due by 10:30 am
Reading Schedule*:
Tues. Jan. 14 – Introduction to course
Thurs. Jan. 16- Tone: “The Struggle for Reproductive Freedom” p.147-155
“The Comstock Act of 1873” p. 140-143
Tues. Jan. 21 - Tone: pp. 155-170
“The Prevention of Contraception”
“Prevention or Abortion—Which?”
“On Race Decay and Wilful Sterility”
“Voices from within the Veil”
“The Program of Eugneics and the Negro Race”
“Buck v. Bell (1927)
Thurs. Jan. 23 - Tone: “Contraceptive Consumers: Gender and the Political Economy of Birth Control” pp.211-230
“Griswold v. Connecticut” and “Eisenstadt v. Baird” pp.182-186
“Testimony on Oral Contraceptives” and Testimony on Intrauterine Device” pp.233-240
Abortion
Tues. Jan. 28 - Solinger: “Pregnancy and Power Before Roe v. Wade, 1950-1970”
“Beyond Safe and Legal: The Lessons of Jane”
Tone: “Commonwealth v. Luceba Parker (1845)” p. 25-29
Thurs. Jan. 30 - Solinger: “Legal Strategies for Abortion Rights in the 21st Century”
“Electoral Politics and Abortion: Narrowing the Message”
Tone: “Roe v. Wade (1973)” p. 190-197
“Hyde Amendment” p.207-208
Tues. Feb. 4 - Solinger: “Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy”
Thurs. Feb 6- Solinger: “African American Women and Abortion”
Tues. Feb. 11 - Solinger: “Rescuing the Nation: Operation Rescue and the Rise of Anti- Abortion Militance”
“Toward Coalition: The Reproductive Health Technologies Project”
Thurs. Feb. 13 - Solinger: “The Crisis in Abortion Provision and Pro-Choice Medical Activism in the 1990s”
“Psychologies of Abortion: Implications of a Changing Context”
Tues. Feb. 18 - Solinger: “Disability Rights and Selective Abortion”
Thurs. Feb. 20 - Marsiglio: “Setting the Stage”
Tues. Feb. 25 - Marsiglio: “Studying Young Single Men”
Thurs. Feb. 27 - Marsiglio: “Becoming Aware, Being Aware”
Tues. March 4 - Marsiglio: “Turning Points in Identities”
Thurs. March 6 - Marsiglio: “Romantic Involvements”
Tues. March 11 - Marsiglio: “Thinking About Fatherhood”
Thurs. March 13 - Marsiglio: “Looking Forward”
Tues. March 18 – Spring Break
Thurs. March 20 – Spring Break
Tues. March 25 - Klassen: “Procreation Stories” and “Cultural Contexts of Home Birth”
Thurs. March 27 - Klassen: “Risk, Fear, and the Ethics of Home Birth”
Tues. April 1 - Klassen: “Procreating Religion: Spirituality, Religion, and Transformations in Birth”
Thurs. April 3- Klassesn: “A Sense of Place: Meaning of Home”
Tues. April 8 - Klassen: “Natural Women: Bodies and the Work of Birth”
Thurs. April 10 - Klassen: “Sliding Between Pain and Pleasure: Home Birth and Visionary Pain”
Tues. April 15 - Davis-Floyd: “Constructing a ‘Good Catch,’ Picking a Winner”
Thurs. April 17 - Davis-Floyd: “Baby’s First Picture”
Tues. April 22 - Davis-Floyd: “Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis”
Thurs. April 24 - Davis-Floyd: “’Native’ Narratives of Connectedness”
May 1; 8:00-10:25– Final Exam
*I reserve the right to make changes to the schedule as necessary