Radical Mothering in Europe: Everyday Forms of Resistance 
​University of Warwick, United Kingdom, 26 April 2024 

​European nation-building and colonial expansion has always relied on the regulation of reproductive labour and the hierarchical categorisation of bodies and forms of family-making. The stigmatisation of mothers was and remains a central strategy to govern minoritised groups under the modern European ideological framework. Yet, the research agendas that seek to address this (e.g. SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective 1997; Gumbs et al. 2016; Ross and Solinger 2017) are disproportionately focused on North America and to a lesser extent the Global South. There is a dire need for research spaces interrogating the European roots of antinatalist policies and giving visibility to minority mothers’ everyday forms of resistance in the region. 
The Radical Mothering Research Collective is one attempt to redress this imbalance. The Collective: 

• draws inspiration from scholarship that focuses on mothering (diverse and fluctuating everyday praxis, performed by a diversity of people regardless of reproductive role or gender identity) rather than motherhood (an oppressive, cisheteropatriarchal institution);  
• defines as ‘radical’ those everyday acts of mothering which occur in unexpected sites (on the streets, across borders, in and around carceral facilities), take unexpected forms (queer, community, non-biological), or defy antinatalist policies in their very existence; 
• rejects an individualist and neoliberal framework for understanding and undermining colonial logics. 

To launch the Collective, we are organising a conference on “Radical Mothering in Europe” held at the University of Warwick on 26th April 2024. 
We welcome academic, creative and/or activist contributions, rooted in critiques of European modernity, on topics such as (but not limited to): 

• Anti-racist mothering 
• Queer mothering 
• Neurodivergent mothering / disability justice 
• Pregnancy, childbirth, chest/breastfeeding and other embodied experiences of mothering 
• Collective, community and othermothering 
• Feminist and activist mothering 
• Mothering and environmental justice 
• Mothering and police / prison abolitionism 
• Mothering in the margins of legality 
• Transnational mothering 

• Mothering against far-right groups 
• Mothering in separation and adoption processes 
• Mothering and assisted reproductive technologies 
• Mothering and eugenics 

We will invite selected papers to contribute to an edited volume after the conference. 


If you are interested in contributing, please send to [email protected] by 15 December 2023: 

• A 150-word biography  
• A 300-word abstract 
• Whether your participation will be in person (we have limited spots for online participation) 
• Whether you require on-site childcare and/or other forms of accommodation (e.g., BSL interpretation, hearing loops)  

We value children’s disruptive power and we welcome them in all spaces at the conference. We will provide facilities for babies and young children and chest/breastfeeding participants. Childcare staff will be hired should participants indicate a need for it – please do not forget to include it in your application if that is the case.  
Participation includes a £50 fee for in-person attendance, and £20 for online attendance. We can provide fee waivers for applicants without institutional support. 


If you would like to find out more about the Collective or would prefer to attend the conference without contributing, please send us a message and we will add you to our mailing list. Alternatively, you can follow us on Mastodon (@[email protected]). 


Conference organising committee: 
Sarah Werner Boada, University of Warwick 
Patricia Hamilton, University of York 


Co-sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender (University of Warwick).

Including one session dedicated to Beauvoir.

"Les forces vives que l’on retrouve dans le titre du spectacle sont celles qui traversent les Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée, La Force de l’âge et La Force des choses : la quête du bonheur et l’inquiétude existentielle, l’émancipation et les pesanteurs diverses du monde. Une exploration subjective du passé, de soi et du monde, de la grande histoire – guerres mondiales, guerre d’Algérie – autant que des événements de la petite : des visages, des rencontres, des émotions. Avec grande sensibilité et l’intelligence des textes qui caractérise son travail, Camille Dagen parcourt les pages de la philosophe à son propre rythme et met en scène avec son équipe une entreprise d’écriture plutôt qu’une figure d’écrivaine. Donnant une forme théâtrale à sa rencontre avec Beauvoir, la metteuse en scène nous invite à entendre une des grandes voix du XXe siècle et ouvre un espace pour, peut-être, penser à nos propres vies en écho."

Strasbourg, mars 2024. 
D'autres dates sont prévues, dans d'autres villes. à suivre...
Plus d'infos en ligne.

The International Simone de Beauvoir Society invites Beauvoirian reflections on the theme of “Beauvoir across Boundaries” in the context of the 2024 World Congress of Philosophy (Rome, August 1-8) and its theme, Philosophy across Boundaries.
The 25th World Congress intends to foster scholarly and public reflections on the future of our societies through the lens of philosophy.
The International Simone de Beauvoir Society calls for papers that take up the theme of boundaries from the viewpoint of Beauvoir’s philosophy. The axiom of ambiguity in Beauvoir’s philosophy allows for rich reflection on the theme of boundaries in various contexts. Areas of focus may include but are not restricted to interrogating the space of boundaries in the following:
​
-  boundaries between literature and philosophy in Beauvoir’s work
- boundaries between good and bad faith or authenticity and inauthenticity
-boundaries between complicity and oppression
- social and epistemic polarization in a post-truth era
- boundaries between the human and non-human (post-humanist and phenomenological concerns)
- boundaries of decolonization
- boundaries between law and enforcement
- religion and boundaries
- boundaries of reason: artificial and human intelligence
- biodiversity and human societies
- social media and selfhood
- boundaries between the emancipatory aims of feminism and other gender activisms

We are interested in sharing Beauvoir scholarship that contributes to the overarching aim of this conference, philosophical reflection on the future of our world.

Abstract guidelines:
- Speakers will have 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.
- Please send your abstract of no more than 350 words and a short cv that includes your contact details and institutional affiliation, if any, to [email protected] by October 20th, 2023.
- Save your abstract and cv as Word files, naming them as follows: BeauvoirWCPyour surname.
- In the subject line of your email, write: BeauvoirWCP submission.
- Abstracts will be reviewed by the International Simone de Beauvoir Society Steering Committee.
- The International Simone de Beauvoir Society will communicate its decisions by November 7th, 2023.

Attending WCP 2024 Rome:
- This conference is IN PERSON only.
- Presenters must fund their own travel costs. There are no International Simone de Beauvoir Society travel funds available for this gathering.
- The precise dates of the International Simone de Beauvoir Society sessions and venues at the World Congress of Philosophy 2024 are TBA.
Further details regarding the World Congress of Philosophy 2024 can be found at https://wcprome2024.com/