programs supported by the center for the humanities
Rally for Planned Parenthood, New York City, February 26, 2011. Photo by Charlotte Cooper, CC BY 2.0 DEED.
Sponsored by WashU's Office of the Provost, the Center for the Humanities has facilitated several initiatives to engage with research and pedagogical practice around the topic of reproductive justice: a faculty working group, Reproductive Justice, Health, Rights; a year-long interdisciplinary course, The Politics of Reproduction; and a graduate student group focused on convening a scholarly speaker series. These initiatives are meant to foster spaces for interdisciplinary inquiry and research on reproductive justice, health, and rights and share the axiom that humanities research across fields can help us to better understand this constellation of issues.
Reproductive Justice Graduate Student Working Group
Launched in fall 2025, the graduate student working group is focused on convening a scholarly speaker series and related public humanities programming. The group is comprised of students from multiple disciplines and schools across WashU who bring research expertise and active intellectual engagement with a range of topics related to reproductive justice. Students receive hands-on training from Center for the Humanities staff in planning and implementing programming, managing a project budget and leading on-campus events.
At left: On April 2, 2026, the working group organized the panel discussion “Roundtable: Queering Reproductive Justice.”
The Politics of Reproduction, Race, and Power
The Politics of Reproduction, Race, and Power was a spring 2024 interdisciplinary course open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates, co-taught by Professor Shanti Parikh (AFAS, Anthropology, WGSS) and practicing civil rights litigator Denise Lieberman (Law). Students used interdisciplinary approaches to understand issues surrounding the politics of reproduction and examine the connections between scholarly findings and current policies, organizational initiatives and public concerns.
A STUDIOLAB COURSE ON THE POLITICS OF REPRODUCTION
This fall 2023 course created an engaged space for students to learn about and develop projects with a community agency around the topic of the politics of reproduction.
Launched in fall 2022, the Reproductive Justice, Health, Rights working group drew on the rich history of reproductive justice, a concept emerging from and indebted to the embodied activism of women of color. With funding from WashU's Office of the Provost, the working group organized a fall 2024 symposium Reflecting on Reproductive Justice.
The Reproductive Justice, Health, Rights working group was comprised of faculty from across many disciplines and four schools at WashU, including conveners Rachel Brown (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Seanna Leath (Psychological & Brain Sciences) and Zakiya Luna (Sociology). Additional contributors include faculty from Biomedical Engineering, Latin American Studies, Law, Political Science, Psychology, Public Health, Social Policy, Sociology, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Working group members collaborated to develop common research areas, build relationships with community partners and learn from experts both at and beyond WashU.
Reproductive Justice, Health, Rights working group conveners (from left) Rachel Brown, Seanna Leath and Zakiya Luna
During the symposium Reflecting on Reproductive Justice, co-conveners Seanna Leath (Psychological & Brain Sciences) and Zakiya Luna (Sociology), both at WashU, discuss the reproductive justice movement with Loretta Ross, associate professor of the study of women and gender at Smith College and a 2022 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award.
