Ideas about reproduction and the family have long shaped humanitarian discourses, global health policies, and development projects: from the admonition to save “women and children first,” to the promotion of a heterosexual, nuclear family in state and international population programs, to the idea that mothers are key “agents of change” in local communities. This roundtable will consider how these ideas persist and/or are being challenged in contemporary policy and activism.  Is motherhood still a powerful narrative mobilized by policymakers and activists? Is this a continuation of maternalist narratives of the past – focused on the self-sacrificing, caring, heterosexual mother – or are there new, more expansive understandings of her role? How is the idea of “the family” mobilized in contemporary policy and activist spaces?  Is there space for queer, decolonial, and/or feminist visions of the family?  In what ways do global histories and local contexts continue to shape the politics of reproduction?  In exploring these questions, panel members will draw on their research and experience as academics and activists working on reproductive and sexual rights across the globe.

This roundtable is the final event of the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2023: “Women and Children as Sites of Intervention: Past, Present, Future.” More information on the conference can be found here.