This two-day event fosters graduate-student research and discussions in the humanities on the ethical, symbolic, and cultural meanings of the womb across traditions and epochs. The womb has long been a site where competing values around autonomy, gender, sexuality, and power converge. Participants will explore how womb-related knowledge—spanning literature, philosophy, the history of medicine, religion, art, music, and law—shapes understandings of personhood, agency, and moral authority. At its core, the workshop undertakes a sustained inquiry into how human societies have imagined reproduction and human difference. The workshop features a variety of formats, including graduate student research presentations, roundtables, and a keynote lecture by Professor Terri Kapsalis (School of the Art Institute of Chicago). 

This workshop is open to the public and to all Princeton graduate and undergraduate students regardless of identity.

Hosted by the Department of German, Princeton University.

Co-sponsored by:

Center for Culture, Society, and Religion

Committee on Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

Department of Anthropology

Department of English

Department of French and Italian

Department of German

Department of Music

Department of Religion

Humanities Council

Program in European Cultural Studies

Program in Medieval Studies

University Center for Human Values

Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented.