[Discussion] Dogum...

[Gonul Pultar]

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
THE LAFER CENTER FOR WOMEN STUDIES

Call For Papers

The Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies at the Hebrew University 
of Jerusalem invites proposals for individual presentations and sessions 
for an interdisciplinary international conference on:

Birth as Experience and Metaphor

November 2003, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The study and conceptualization of birth and of its related processes 
(such as conception, pregnancy, etc) has undergone dramatic changes in 
the course of history, and has become a major topic of interest and 
scholarly research in different disciplines. Birth is currently 
understood as an experience constructed by culture, rather than an 
experience defined by female physiology, and is recognized as fluid, 
multiple and varied in its experiences and meanings, across different 
cultures and periods. Moreover, charged with the mystery and magic of 
creation, pregnancy and birth have become stock metaphors for 
original/primordial beginnings, and for human creativity in its broadest 
sense.   

We welcome papers that discuss birth as physical and emotional 
experience, as well as representations of birth in culture and in 
society, such as: birth and rebirth in religion and in myth; images of 
birth in the arts; the birth of a literary work, or a fictional 
character; birth of a nation; traditional and alternative models of 
birth, labor and delivery; concepts of midwifery and birth-attendance; 
birth as an event in culture and society; medicalization of birth; pain 
and pleasure in birth; public and private in birth; the politics of 
birth; images of birth in popular culture and in the media; birth and 
sexuality; birth and feminist thought; etc, etc,

The conference committee invites scholars from diverse fields, such as 
medicine and obstetrics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, social 
work, philosophy, history, history of arts, literature, folklore, Jewish 
studies, religious studies, communication, and cultural studies, to send 
in by mail a 500-700 word proposal for a 20 minute presentation, or for 
an organized session, no later than 15.3.2003, to the Lafer Center, the 
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905. For 
further information: e-mail: mslaferc@mscc.huji.ac.il, tel: 
972-2-5883455.