Dána-Ain Davis: /ˈgramərs/ of Racism: Obstetrics and Black Anti Bodies

The Social Sciences Forum presents Dána-Ain Davis, professor of urban studies and anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY), where she is also director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the Graduate Center City University of New York. She will deliver the Health and Inequality Lecture on /ˈgramərs/ of Racism: Obstetrics and Black Anti Bodies.

In the last decade, Davis has focused her attention on reproduction, race and the technologies that assist in reproduction. She has written several articles addressing issues of reproduction and racism including, “The Politics of Reproduction: The Troubling Case of Nadya Suleman,” “Obstetric Racism: The Racial Politics of Pregnancy, Labor, and Birthing,” and “The Bone Collectors.” She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of five books, the most recent being Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. Reproductive Injustice received the 2020 Honorable Mention for the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing; was a finalist for the 2020 PROSE AWARD, given by the Association of American Publishers, and is listed as one of seven books on anti-racism in New York Magazine. In Reproductive Injustice, Davis examines medical racism in the lives of professional Black women who have given birth prematurely. The book shows that race confounds the perception that class is root of adverse birth outcomes and lifts up the role that birth workers—midwives, doulas, and birth advocates—play in addressing Black women’s birth outcomes.

Please join this free event online via Webex (password SP22SSF).

This event is organized by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health. Co-sponsors include the Department of Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Language, Literacy & Culture PhD Program.