Archival Silences Working Group: Too Many Metaphors: Sex and Reproduction in the Archive

In the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny protection to abortion under the United States Constitution, the representation, presence and absence of narratives related to birth, menstruation, abortion and other aspects of human reproduction as they appear in the archival record feels more urgent than ever before. Inspired in part by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s germinal work, A Midwife’s Tale, as well as the more recent essay, “‘A Culture of Concealment’: Revealing the Records of Human Reproduction” by Tanya Zanish-Belcher, join us as we discuss how these essential perspectives have been and are today documented, found and organized. How does such documentation effect the ways in which these topics are discussed, studied, perceived and acted on?

Register for this virtual event here.

Participants:

• Emma Sarconi, Reference and Outreach Specialist for Special Collections, Princeton University (Moderator)
• Kinohi Nishikawa, Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, Princeton University (Moderator)
• Ayah Nuriddin, Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows and Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and African American Studies (Moderator)
• Brianna Theobald, Associate Professor of History, Arizona State University
• Nicole Carr, Assistant Professor Department of Language, Literature, and Arts, Texas A&M University
• Laura Micham, Director, Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, Duke University

Now in its fourth year, the Archival Silences Working Group presents a public webinar series highlighting work that redresses the blind spots of institutional repositories.

For more information, please contact organizers Emma Sarconi (Princeton University Library) at esarconi@princeton.edu or Kinohi Nishikawa (English; African American Studies) at kinohin@princeton.edu.

Archival Silences is presented by the Princeton University Humanities Council.