Invitation to the conference: Giving birth - obstetrics - motherhood in history and presence
On April 20 and 21, 2023, the interdisciplinary conference will be held at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.
Registrations are open until April 6, 2023.
Scientific direction
Both Institute II: for Social Sciences, Faculty of Human Sciences of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.
Conference information
Recently, obstetrics, childbirth and motherhood have increasingly come into the public focus. Cultures of childbirth, ideas of a "happy" or "good" birth and of motherhood were and are still subject to constant change. At the conference on April 20 and 21, 2023, speakers from the fields of history, medical history, ethnology, political science, social science, midwifery, social work and health will examine these developments over a period of more than five centuries in an interdisciplinary overview.
At the two-day scientific conference under the patronage of the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Equality of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Petra Grimm-Benne, it will be discussed how concepts, practices and rights around obstetrics, childbirth and motherhood developed and present themselves until today in breaks and continuities. Of interest are the immense shifts from the 18th to the 19th century as well as those from the second half of the 20th century on, which produced a modern European culture around childbirth, obstetrics and motherhood. On the other hand, the focus is on a perspective of the "longue durée", which has been missing in research so far, and which takes a look at the historical genesis and its consequences as well as the implications of current developments and concepts of obstetrics, childbirth and motherhood.
The conference will take place in the Senate Hall of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in presence as well as hybrid.