Welcome to Kaja Skoftedalen, CORTH's new Visiting Researcher
12th March 2025
A warm CORTH welcome to Kaja Skoftedalen who recently arrived at Sussex to join CORTH as our latest visiting researcher. Kaja is a PhD candidate at the Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen. She has come to Sussex to study for a period with the CORTH Centre.
Kaja will be giving a talk on 'Exploring care in rituals of social reproduction in Southern Tanzania' on 8th April, where she will share some insights from her research.
Please join us in wishing her a warm welcome!
Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present - Book Release
6th March 2025
A huge congratulations to Isabel Davis whose book Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press) landed in bookshops on the 4th March!
A fascinating and beautifully illustrated account of trying to conceive in both the past and the present.
Inspired by the author's own experiences, Conceiving Histories brings together history, personal memoir, and illustration to investigate the culturally hidden experience of trying to conceive. In elegant, engaging prose, Isabel Davis explores the combination of myth, fantasy, science, and pseudo-science that the (un)reproductive body encounters in pursuit of a viable pregnancy. The book chronicles the trying-to-conceive lifecycle arc from sex education at school, through the desire to be a parent, into the specifics of trying and struggling to conceive. It also looks back at conception throughout history to open a new vista on what we live with today.
A central argument of Davis's is that historical people lived with the unknown just like we do but were more explicitly able to acknowledge it. In an age of assistive reproductive technologies, the act of embracing uncertainty seems difficult. Although the topic of not conceiving is potentially painful, this is not a grim book; more than grief, it is motivated by curiosity, wonder, compassion, and even humor. With 108 full-color illustrations by Anna Burel, Conceiving Histories is also a beautiful material object, an intentionally playful antidote and supplement to online search engines - the resort of so many embroiled in fertility challenges.
You can discover more about the book on the publisher's website: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049481/conceiving-histories/. The book is produced by MIT Press and illustrated with 108 colour original illustrations by Anna Burel.
Citizen Science for Sustainable Menstrual Health
22nd January 2025
CORTH co-Director Dr. Chi Eziefula (Associate Professor in Infection, Brighton & Sussex Medical School) recently gave a talk at a workshop hosted by SSRP and CIRCY (two of the University of Sussex's ‘Centres of Excellence’) on sustainability research important to the lives of children and young people. The workshop, called Exploring environmental sustainability: what issues matter to the lives of children and young people? brought together young people and researchers with four presenters giving inputs on their research, and participants being invited to share their own ideas, responses, and questions. The event was a successful opportunity to collaborate on exploring complex sustainability issues where answers are not straightforward and contribute to an idea for a new sustainability game. Dr. Eziefula's presentation focused on "Citizen science for sustainable menstrual health."
CORTH Director, Maya Unnithan, awarded by Leverhulme Trust
15th January 2025
Professor Maya Unnithan has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust major research fellowship to explore the ethical, legal, and cultural dimensions of reproductive freedom, examining the right to reproduce and the right to avoid reproduction.
While philosophers and feminist scholars have long studied reproductive rights, anthropology has not yet fully explored how these rights are shaped by different social, moral and legal systems.
Maya's project, titled Reproductive Freedom and Ethics: A Comparative Study on the Making of Self, will investigate how reproductive decisions are influenced by religious, legal, and ethical frameworks in cultural contexts. By analysing case law in the UK, US, and India, as well as religious and ethical perspectives on reproductive freedom, she aims to better understand how reproductive aspirations are framed and navigated.
She said "I have worked for a long time on rights issues to do with the body, conception and contraception. Now I am really excited about exploring this through the idea of freedom which provides a broader moral and inclusive vision."
Reliance on fertility apps on rise in England and Wales, study shows
An article in The Guardian reports the potential risks associated with the move away from traditional hormonal contraception and use of fertility apps. Read the full article here.
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November 2024)
Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem
Even as they flee crisis and disaster, women and girls have the right to safety and support
When conflict and disaster force women and girls to flee their communities and homes, they face grave danger. Displacement takes a devastating toll on their well-being and leaves them exposed to violence and abuse.
As livelihoods and safety nets vanish in emergencies, rates of gender-based violence can skyrocket. Shattered protection systems mean inadequate services and support, leaving many survivors struggling to recover on their own.
UNFPA is determined to end the scourge of gender-based violence, to protect women and girls, and to assist survivors on their journey to recovery.
As the lead United Nations agency for addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian settings, last year we provided services and protection from gender-based violence for 6 million people. We established 1,000 safe spaces offering comprehensive services, including legal aid and psychosocial support. And we are continually investing in long-term prevention strategies that address gender inequality and root causes that fuel cycles of violence.
This vital work provides hope and support when and where it is needed most. Together with our partners – including governments, civil society, and women-led organizations working at the grassroots level – we have saved and transformed countless lives. Still, the needs are staggering.
Every survivor of gender-based violence deserves protection, quality care, and access to justice. Yet, less than a quarter of the funding needs for essential prevention and protection services in emergencies have been met this year.
Along with more resources, there is also a need for strengthened laws and policies that protect women and girls in humanitarian settings and beyond. Men and boys also need to be engaged in interrupting patterns of violence and helping change harmful attitudes and gender norms.
As we mark this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let us renew our commitment to a world where every woman and girl can enjoy dignity and equality, living free from all forms of violence and harm.
It will take all of us to ensure that women and girls everywhere can navigate their futures safely and without fear. They must know that the world stands by their side, just as UNFPA does every day.
MOU with Bergen University
August 2024
CORTH and the Department of Anthropology at Sussex have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bergen University in Norway for collaborative research and knowledge exchange
This month we celebrate the approval of the MOU to ‘undertake collaborative research, training and knowledge exchange’ between our institutions over the next five years (2024-2029). The MOU has grown out of collaboration between the CORTH centre (UoS) and CIH centre (UiB) focused on the ongoing Maternal Mortality monitoring and surveillance ‘Matriset’ project (2021-2026; Norwegian Council funded) with junior (PhD level) and senior researchers visiting Sussex. The project includes PhD scholars, post docs and senior researchers from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Norway and UK. Going forward, several institutions from UiB would take part in this exchange, including the Depts., of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for International Health (CIH), the Dept. of Health promotion and Development (HEMIL), with units on gender and development, and the Centre for Law Transform.
Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present
Posted on behalf of: Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technology and Health (CORTH)
Last updated: Thursday, 6 March 2025
A huge congratulations to Isabel Davis whose book Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press) landed in bookshops on the 4 March 2025!
A fascinating and beautifully illustrated account of trying to conceive in both the past and the present.
Inspired by the author's own experiences, Conceiving Histories brings together history, personal memoir, and illustration to investigate the culturally hidden experience of trying to conceive. In elegant, engaging prose, Isabel Davis explores the combination of myth, fantasy, science, and pseudo-science that the (un)reproductive body encounters in pursuit of a viable pregnancy. The book chronicles the trying-to-conceive lifecycle arc from sex education at school, through the desire to be a parent, into the specifics of trying and struggling to conceive. It also looks back at conception throughout history to open a new vista on what we live with today.
A central argument of Davis's is that historical people lived with the unknown just like we do but were more explicitly able to acknowledge it. In an age of assistive reproductive technologies, the act of embracing uncertainty seems difficult. Although the topic of not conceiving is potentially painful, this is not a grim book; more than grief, it is motivated by curiosity, wonder, compassion, and even humor. With 108 full-color illustrations by Anna Burel, Conceiving Histories is also a beautiful material object, an intentionally playful antidote and supplement to online search engines - the resort of so many embroiled in fertility challenges.
You can discover more about the book on the publisher's website: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049481/conceiving-histories/. The book is produced by MIT Press and illustrated with 108 colour original illustrations by Anna Burel.
Further information: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049481/conceiving-histories/