(Mis)Conceptions: A Cultural History of Pregnancy Indeterminacy

Project overview

(Mis)Conceptions: A Cultural History of Pregnancy Indeterminacy is an AHRC-funded research project, which identifies ambiguity around pregnancy as a significant but under-researched phenomenon both in history and today, although one which is significantly culturally repressed. This ambitious creative project combines archival research with an embedded public engagement programme to alter perceptions of the (non)reproductive body, past, present, and future.

Whilst there is a presiding modern habit of pitying historical people for not having certainties, knowledge and options that people have today, there is also extensive evidence that modern prospective parents can live through a bewildering and under-acknowledged period of uncertainty.

Although some birthing parents retrospectively say, ‘I just knew I was pregnant’, many others who have tried to conceive, whether successfully or not, report prolonged, chronic, and recurrent confusion. What is more, the boundaries between this immediate and much longer-term uncertainty (will parenthood happen for us?) are blurred.

(Mis)Conceptions intervenes to improve awareness of history and our place within it. Whilst modern technologies and techniques do provide knowledge and opportunities, they have also presided over the loss of socio-linguistic tools for negotiating bodily ambiguity, disappointment, and delay.

Who’s involved?

Principal Investigator - Isabel Davis

Isabel is a senior academic with expertise in the field of reproductive history. She leads the Collections and Culture research theme at the Natural History Museum. She is the author of a forthcoming book, Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy Past and Present (MIT Press).

Visual Artist - Anna Burel

Anna is an experienced visual artist with interests in women’s history, including in medical experience. She has been collaborating with Isabel Davis since 2015 and is the illustrator of Conceiving Histories.

Public Engagement Officer - Anya Gleizer

Anya is a researcher in human geography and a performance artist. She directs the Art, Biodiversity and Climate research network at the University of Oxford, and her research interests lie at the intersection of Performance Art and Environmental Science. Community mobilisation and engagement rest at the core of her artistic practice.

How you can get involved

This project’s public engagement activities begin from the premise that, in the experience of trying to conceive, uncertainty, loss and delay are not just things of the past. The engagement work endeavours to discover some of the ways in which those frustrations are lived now.

A variety of curious historical materials – stories, natural historical objects, ideas and concepts – will be used to co-create a set of new resources which make pregnancy uncertainty visible and better understood. The aim is to raise awareness and generate navigation strategies for the sometimes-confusing experience of trying for pregnancy.

This project is currently inviting others with academic, personal or other professional interests to get in touch.

• We are also interested in contacting academics who are working in medical humanities and histories of the body, sex, and reproduction, who would like to belong to a network, and/or take part in events sharing learning about public engagement. Sign up here.
• We would also like to share news or free event invitations with anyone who has a personal or professional interest in the project. You can sign up for this using the form at the bottom of the page.

If you would like to be involved in one of the ways above, please join the mailing list. There is space on the form to describe your expertise and interest.

We aim to gather a diverse range of voices and perspectives and we welcome interest from people whatever their ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age (although over 18), educational or socio-economic background.

Our project will take the greatest possible care with individuals’ stories, needs, and rights. You will be in control of how your contribution is used and have shared ownership of those project outcomes with which you are involved.