Description
Book SynopsisAlys Eve Weinbaum investigates the continuing resonances of Atlantic slavery in the cultures and politics of human reproduction that characterize contemporary capitalism, showing how black feminist thought offers the best means through which to understand the myriad ways slavery continues to haunt the present.
Trade Review"Weinbaum's book is both a contribution to a rich Black feminist theoretical archive on reproductive politics and a celebration of work by Black feminist scholars—particularly Black feminist legal scholars, including Dorothy Roberts and Anita Allen—who have long considered the intersections of surrogacy, slavery, and logics of property.… Weisenbaum's original and incisive text gives us new tools to think about reproductive freedom and reminds us that any idea of reproductive freedom requires Black feminist theoretical innovation and imagination." -- Jennifer C. Nash * Modern Language Quarterly *
"Ultimately,
The Afterlife of Reproductive Slavery does not disappoint. It does the job of demonstrating the complex connections between the gendered and racialised reproductive exploitation and extraction during the historical Atlantic slave trade period and today exceedingly well." -- Gina Marie Longo * Feminist Encounters *
"The book offers much-needed critical perspectives on the racializing processes at the center of reproductive labor and commodification. . . . Ulitmately, Weinbaum's analysis shows the importance of thinking historically and offers insights into the ways in which gendered, racialized, and sexualized forms of oppression that have roots in slavery continue to motivate biocapitalism today." -- Daisy Deomampo * Catalyst *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. Human Reproduction and the Slave Episteme 1
1. The Surrogacy/Slavery Nexus 29
2. Black Feminism as a Philosophy of History 61
3. Violent Insurgency, or "Power to the Ice Pick" 88
4. The Problem of Reproductive Freedom in Neoliberalism 111
5. A Slave Narrative for Postracial Times 147
Epilogue. The End of Men and the Black Womb of the World 177
Notes 187
Bibliography 243
Index 275
