Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2023 Examines Women and Children as Sites of Intervention

The 2023 Pierre du Bois Annual Conference was held at the Geneva Graduate Institute under the auspices of the Pierre du Bois Foundation and supported by the International History and Politics Department and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The Conference was conceptualised and organised by Dr. Nicole Bourbonnais.

Entitled ‘Women and Children as Sites of Intervention: Past, Present, Future’, the conference explored the flourishing fields of reproduction, maternalism, and family in the realms of development, welfare, modernity, colonial policy and nation-building. The conference brought together historians, sociologists, feminist theorists and anthropologists from a wide range of academic institutions, including universities from several parts of the world such as the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Chile, among others.

The conference unpacked the crucial and rather complex positioning of women and children as sites of intervention by various actors- eugenicists, feminists, child rights activists, public health professionals, colonial officials, states, and global institutions. Adopting a transnational and comparative perspective, the panels and roundtables critically analysed the role of women as pioneers and agents of change. Jade Sasser of the University of California delivered the keynote on ‘Shifting Population Politics: From the Population Bomb to Climate Crisis’, focusing on family planning through the pivots of ecofascism, sexual stewardship, and eco-anxiety.