FREN 427 - Si je veux, quand je veux: la politique de la reproduction en France et dans ses anciennes colonies

FC ARHU CD WINT

4 credits
“Si je veux, quand je veux” was one of many slogans chanted during street demonstrations during the early 1970s when reproductive rights activists strove to make reproductive care more safe, accessible, and legal. The legalization of abortion in France in 1975 was a major first step toward new ideas and practices that the French adopted at levels simultaneously individual, familial, and even national. These battles unfolded differently in France’s former colonies, however, and demand an understanding of these societies undergoing decolonization. This interdisciplinary course will grapple with the medical, cultural, social, and political histories of reproductive politics from 1900 until today, with current approaches to non-binary family planning. Through close examination of literature, painting, and narrative and documentary film, we will learn from these struggles and especially from the individuals who forced progress onto the world. Taught in French.

Prerequisites: two 300-level courses beyond 301.