Between Privacy and the Public Debate: Decisions on Reproduction in Germany and the US in the Second Half of the 20th Century (B15 [A05])

• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 252080619

The project proposes an international comparison of family policies and norms as well as reproductive knowledge and patterns of reproductive decision-making between 1945 and 2000. Thus, it focusses on three societies (Ireland, Spain and Poland) which not only faced considerable social change in the period under concern, but were also characterized by strong albeit not uniform influence from the Catholic Church. Our historical analysis will discuss cultures of reproductive decision-making in a phase of fierce socio-political change as well as the entanglement of state-run family policies with economy and religion. This will allow us to identify and discuss specific cultures of reproductive knowledge.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1150: Cultures of Decision-Making
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Isabel Heinemann