A Culturally Centered and Intersectional Approach to Reproductive Justice

by Iccha Basnyat (Contribution by), Riley D. Campbell (Contribution by), Lisa DeTora (Contribution by), Amy Garcia (Contribution by), Calla Hales (Contribution by)

Overview

A Culturally-Centered and Intersectional Approach to Reproductive Justice investigates and challenges assumptions and pre-existing notions regarding reproductive justice by grounding this work in a more inclusive and culturally informed context. Throughout history, contributors argue, reproductive justice movements have centered white, cisgendered, and non-disabled women in the West. Along with women in the Global South being underrepresented in scholarship, research tends to focus only on the abuses they have suffered, rather than delving deeper into issues of structures, barriers, or agency. Each chapter is written from an autoethnographic perspective to unpack the contributors’ challenges with achieving reproductive justice for themselves and their respective communities. Ultimately, this book asserts that when different facets of reproductive justice are presented in the form of narrative self-reflexivity, readers find a space to safely evaluate their positionality within the larger reproductive justice movement while simultaneously acknowledging the complexity of the movement itself. Scholars of communication, health, and women’s and gender studies will find this book of particular interest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666936926
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/31/2023
Series:	Bloomsbury Studies in Health Communication , #1
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Tomeka M. Robinson is senior associate dean of the Rabinowitz Honors College and professor of rhetoric and public advocacy at Hofstra University.

Sabrina Singh is a doctoral candidate in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University.

Christina Mary Joseph is instructional professional and assistant director of forensics in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Tomeka M. Robinson, Sabrina Singh, and Christina Mary Joseph

Chapter 2: Promoting a “Domestic Supply of Infants”: The Dangers of Commodifying Reproduction in the United States

McKenzie Twine

Chapter 3: Whiteness as an Obstacle to Reproductive Justice

Lisa DeTora

Chapter 4: Co-scripted Autoethnographies of (Re)thinking the Current Reproductive Justice Discourse in the United States

Breonna Riddick; Satveer Kaur-Gill, and Iccha Basnayat

Chapter 5: Barely Made it Out Alive

Aisha Wilson-Carter

Chapter 6: The Experience of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Treatment and the Need for Health Education

Cinthia Lopes da Silva and Lília Aparecida Kanan

Chapter 7: Making it through the Maze: Navigating Barriers for Transgender Women to Become Parents

Riley D. Campbell

Chapter 8: Intersectional Rhetorics of Justice in Parenting Practices

Diana Isabel Martínez and Amy Garcia

Chapter 9: Day In, Day Out: Fighting for Abortion Access in the American South

Calla Hales

Chapter 10: Evaluating the Value of Doula Advocacy in Mitigating Negative Birth and Health Outcomes

Christina Mary Joseph

About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

"For far too long, reproductive justice and health communication have centered on communities of power and privilege. This book is an intentional and much-needed departure from that traditional narrative. With over a dozen authors featured, this book illuminates the perspectives of the historically under-resourced and marginalized. We are being granted much-needed insights into how reproductive justice varies for birthing people of all intersecting identities."

Deion Hawkins

"A much-needed, timely, and nuanced examination of the contemporary dark geographies of feminist reproductive justice. Using autoethnography as method, this book provides deep insights into the personal, political, and policy implications on topics such as abortion access, doula advocacy, IVF treatments, adoptions, and trans-parenting from a critical perspective."

Srivi Ramasubramanian

A Culturally-Centered and Intersectional Approach to Reproductive Justice is vitally important to the current historical moment. Authors in this collection utilize autoethnography to tell stories focused on painful, challenging, and traumatic experiences surrounding threats to bodily autonomy and access to safe abortion care. Orbiting around reproductive justice and intersectionality as an important focus for health research, this diverse constellation of narratives will appeal to scholars in health communication, public health, health education, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, and autoethnography.”

Cody M. Clemens

The current book examines intersectional reproductive narratives enmeshed in everyday lives of marginalized and disenfranchised individuals and the impact of reproductive care policies on such groups. Each autoethnographic essay provides a rich and complex narrative, introduces the topic and by delving into the experiences of both the providers and those impacted by the issue, uncovers the lived experiences and social and structural inequities and disparities. The book would be useful for anyone interested in the topic of reproductive justice, for the researchers and policymakers who want to understand this issue further, and for college teachers interested in introducing some of these issues in the classroom.”

Parul Jain