Boundary Crossings: The Reproductive Work of Thinking Together

Our day-long seminar provided a unique opportunity to engage with state-of-the-art discussions on different aspects of the social reproduction debate. Drawing on the expertise and experience of scholars at various stages in their careers, from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, and conducting research in countries across the world, we explored new directions in the transnational study of social reproduction. Both speakers and non-presenters were highly receptive to the invitation to engage with the seminar’s central questions:

1. Where do we focus our gaze when the sites of social reproduction are transnational?
2. How do we reimagine politics of care that are neither heteronormative nor in the service of capitalist accumulation?
3. How do we rethink research on social reproduction in ways that seriously consider non-human animals and kinship, including other-than-human ancestry?

We had the opportunity to learn from Sara R. Farris (Goldsmiths), Alessandra Mezzadri (SOAS), Aiko Ikemura Amaral (King’s College), Nat Raha (Glasgow School of Art), and Sirisha Naidu (University of Missouri–Kansas City), who offered insights into the coloniality of social reproduction, current cartographies of reproductive struggles, the racialisation of care infrastructures, queer transfeminist transformations of social reproduction and affective economies, and the links between environmental struggles and the crisis of social reproduction. At the same time, Abril Rios Rivera (University of Oxford), Kirsten Lloyd (University of Edinburgh), Annika Bergman Rosamond (University of Edinburgh), and Clair Walsh (University of Edinburgh) delivered thought-provoking presentations on photo-based methodologies with migrants and refugees in Mexico, the use of curatorial practices to advance perspectives on social reproduction, and practices of care through visuals and drawings.

To make the seminar accessible to scholars at all career stages and to reach diverse audiences, we followed two key strategies. Firstly, for presenters, we invited speakers at various points in their careers, ensuring representation across disciplines (Art, Development Studies, Sociology, Economics), theoretical approaches (Marxist, decolonial, queer, feminist), and research locations (Brazil, Bolivia, Scotland, India, England). In our commitment to embracing diverse forms of knowledge production, we also issued an open call to scholars working with multimodal and art-based methods on issues related to social reproduction. Secondly, we offered bursaries to non-presenters. This decision stemmed from a desire to value everyone’s potential contribution, regardless of their formal role in the seminar.

It was evident throughout the event—in presentations, discussions, and social interactions—that participants were genuinely interested in thinking together and learning from one another, regardless of career stage. We are confident that the spirit of those insightful and constructive contributions will evolve into a supportive and lasting network in the future.

Author bio:

Dr Tatiana Sánchez Parra is a feminist ethnographer researching people’s experiences of reproductive violence and justice in contexts of war and transitional justice. She is interested in thinking about these issues through feminist peacebuilding, social reproduction, and reproductive justice frameworks. In her work, she explores creative and arts-based approaches not only as tools for data collection, but as collaborative sites of knowledge production. She has engaged with various transitional justice mechanisms in Colombia, working to make different forms of reproductive violence legible. Dr Sánchez Parra is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee. Before that, she was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, where she continues to be a visiting researcher.