Caring for Reproductive Justice
Design in Response to Adversity
CSCW 2024 | Nov 9 or 10 (TBD) | San José, Costa Rica
About This Workshop
Reproductive justice is an intersectional framework that champions "the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities" [1]. Originating from Black feminist organizations in the United States, reproductive justice encourages a holistic, global human rights approach to care and advocacy, including civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, developmental, and sexual rights [2].
This one-day, hybrid workshop will facilitate a design jam speculating on design and anti-design approaches that can support reproductive justice, particularly focusing on unique challenges and tensions arising from adversity. Adversity includes tangible and perceived hostilities spanning the national, local, and private spheres. Examples could include legal barriers, social stigmatization, precarious or violent domestic environments, and more.
Our goal is to bring together researchers and designers from different parts of the world to facilitate creative group brainstorming, establish new collaborations, explore opportunity spaces, and generate novel ideas to support reproductive justice.
[1] “Reproductive Justice.” Sister Song. https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice.
[2] Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger. 2017. Reproductive Justice: An Introduction.
Key themes: reproductive justice, speculative design
Call for Participation
Priority deadline: August 1st, 2024
Final deadline: August 20th, 2024
After August 1st, papers will be accepted on a rolling basis until August 20th, or until the workshop reaches capacity.
Submissions will receive notification of acceptance during the first week of September 2024.
Prospective participants should submit a 1-3 page provocation or position paper that discusses a particular challenge, experience, or gap they have encountered in their work related to reproductive justice.
This can be presented as an issue they encountered in their research and professional practice (e.g., challenges in designing for a specific issue) or in their personal environment (e.g., autobiographical experience), as well as a topic of interest (e.g., related to reproductive justice that is currently debated in their country). The organizers will use the contributions as a starting point for the design jam and facilitate creative group brainstorming, emphasizing the role of the artifacts, tangible or digital, that the authors found critical in their contribution.
We encourage contributions that highlight challenges and opportunities to design for reproductive justice. This includes, but is not limited to, issues of information distribution, misinformation, privacy, security, legality, and organizational and activist approaches to design around reproductive justice. Furthermore, we consider how access is shaped by race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, and location. In addition to these intersectionalities, we intend to address issues of technology and social stigma, and the perceived barriers towards design in reproductive justice spaces. Applicants need not work directly with one of these topics but may work in a field with relevant expertise, such as safety and privacy, medical informatics, and policy.
The workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from different parts of the world to establish new collaborations and directions that contribute towards design for reproductive justice, with a particular emphasis on amplifying underrepresented perspectives. We aim to contribute to a culture of transparency and supportive design collaboration among people working in the space of design, HCI, and reproductive justice. The organizers intend for the group to explore new opportunity spaces, learn from one another, and continue the group's connection outside the conference.
Reach out with any questions!
Benedetta Lusi, b.lusi@utwente.nl
Adrian K. Petterson, a.petterson@mail.utoronto.ca
Kamala Payyapilly Thiruvenkatanathan, kamala.pt@psu.edu
Michaela Krawczyk, mikrawcz@iu.edu
Emily Tseng, et397@cornell.edu
Tentative Schedule
November 9th or 10th, 2024 (TBD) | All times are in CST (San José, Costa Rica)
This hybrid workshop spans seven hours, including breaks for coffee and lunch. More details on in-person vs. online attendee experiences forthcoming.
9:00 Welcome and introductions
9:15 Presentation of papers/provocations
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Design jam
12:00 Lunch break
13:00 Design jam
14:30 Coffee break
15:00 Conclusion of design jam
16:00 Presentation and discussion of design jam outcomes