The Feminist Lecture Program are excited to announce a brand new collaboration with the Vagina Museum! The same amazing online weekly feminist content you expect from us, now hosted by the world’s only bricks and mortar Vagina Museum!
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Join guest lecturers Holly Isard & Jo Harrison to explore reproductive labour and breastfeeding as work and for an extensive Q&A discussion.
"In a context of severe time poverty, double-cup, hands-free pumps are considered the most desirable, as they permit one to express milk from both breasts at once while driving to work on the freeway.”
– Nancy Fraser, 2016
Waged or unwaged, breastfeeding is and has always been work. Looking back through its history one finds examples of wet-nursing, lactation porn, cell-culturing and human milk banks. Using social reproduction theory as a framework, this session will use examples from the history of art and popular culture to track the contradictions of breastfeeding under capitalism. From medieval altarpieces of the Madonna breastfeeding, and early modern paintings of Roman Charity nursing her father, through to contemporary works of techno-optimism and Instagram posts of breast pumping celebrities. As these depictions of breastfeeding play out on screen a number of threads emerge: the fetishisation of breast milk; breastfeeding as a social relation; maternal generosity; denaturalisings; biocapitalism and the value of breast milk, amongst others. Weaving image with word demonstrates the many forms of breastfeeding as labour across history.
Join lecturers Holly Isard and Jo Harrison for a whistle-stop art historical tour through images of breastfeeding which will explore reproductive labour and breastfeeding as work. Followed by Q&A which welcomes open discussion with the group further exploring examples of reproductive labour (including and beyond breastfeeding) and how this is entangled within the contradictory landscape of capitalism. Expect to learn about the concept of social reproduction theory – a core concept within feminist theory.
ABOUT OUR LECTURERS
Jo Harrison (she/her) is founder and curator of 'Repronomics', an ACE funded research project exploring the intersection of reproduction and economics through the lens of visual arts. She is Director at The Approach, London and recently co-founded and launched The Arts Working Parents Alliance with Hettie Judah. AWP is a UK based peer network, seeking to make the art industry a more accessible and welcoming place for parents.
Holly Isard (she/her) is a Wellcome Trust funded PhD student at the University of West London, where she is part of the Gender, Technology and Work research cluster. Starting from the position that all gestation can be thought through the lens of labour, her research explores the politics of reproductive technologies in visual culture."
UPCOMING SESSIONS WITH THE FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM
Friday 26th January
Luisa Maria MacCormack
Hysterical Bodies: Gender, Medicine and Wandering Uteruses
Monday 29th January
Alekzsandra Rokvity
Endometriosis Activism: Making the Invisible Visible
Monday 5th February
Eleanor Medhurst
Dressing Dykes: A History of Lesbian Fashion
Monday 12th February
Parumveer Walia
Exploring the the Abject: Excreta, Feminism and Performativity in Art History
Monday 19th February
Holly Isard and Jo Harrison
Breastfeeding as Work: The Contradictions of Breastfeeding Under Capitalism
Monday 26th February
Sophie Paul
READING MAKES ME HORNY: Feminist Publishing and Masturbatory Reading
And much more to come…
RECORDING
A recording of the lecture will be sent out by The Feminist Lecture Program after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. This email will also contain any resources/reading list the lecturer shares.
Please add hello@feministlectureprogram.com to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.
Please note that the recording will expire 7 days after sending.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of £20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
MORE FLP…
Can’t get enough? The Feminist Lecture Program has our very own digital archive, where you can find some of the best past lectures from our back catalogue to rent and watch ON DEMAND. Check out our ever growing collection here: https://thefeministlectureprogram.vhx.tv/
Follow us on Instagram @thefeministlectureprogram
And check out our sustainable merch from FLP Studio at https://feministlectureprogram.com/shop & @flp__studio
And that's it!
We're really looking forward to you joining us.