Next summer myself and Dr Ciara Meehan will be hosting a conference on the perceptions of pregnancy from the medieval period to the modern at the University of Hertfordshire.

Here is the call for papers and a link to the conference website:

Perceptions of Pregnancy:  From the Medieval to the Modern

Organised by School of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire

16 – 18 July 2014

 Keynote Speakers:

Professor Joanne Bailey

(Oxford Brooks University)

Dr Elaine Farrell

(Queen’s University Belfast)

This three day conference aims to bring together scholars working across a range of disciplines, time periods and global perspectives to examine perceptions of pregnancy throughout history. We welcome papers considering a range of issues, including, but not limited to,

• Pregnancy, including the pregnant body and the experience of pregnancy,
• Unlawful pregnancy, including rape, incest and sexual abuse,
• Fertility and infertility, including IVF, miscarriage and still-birth,
• Abortion and contraception, including pro-life and pro-choice debate,
• Parenthood, single parenthood, and infanticide.

Potential themes for discussion are:

• Magic, ritual and religion,
• Technology and medicine,
• Gender, including male involvement and experiences,
• Government policy and politics,
• Work life, domesticity and childcare.

300-word proposals for twenty-minute papers should be sent to the conference organisers by 1 February 2014.  We welcome postgraduate papers.  Informal enquiries can be directed to Dr Jennifer Evans (j.evans5@herts.ac.uk) and Dr Ciara Meehan (c.meehan2@herts.ac.uk).

Updates will be added to http://perceptionsofpregnancy.wordpress.com/