The Wombs of Women: Race, Capital, Feminism (Theory in Forms)

In the 1960s thousands of poor women of color on the (post)colonial French island of Reunion had their pregnancies forcefully terminated by white doctors; the doctors operated under the pretext of performing benign surgeries, for which they sought government compensation. When the scandal broke in 1970, the doctors claimed to have been encouraged to perform these abortions by French politicians who sought to curtail reproduction on the island, even though abortion was illegal in France. In The Wombs of Women —first published in French and appearing here in English for the first time—Françoise Vergès traces the long history of colonial state intervention in black women’s wombs during the slave trade and postslavery imperialism as well as in current birth control politics. She examines the women’s liberation movement in France in the 1960s and 1970s, showing that by choosing to ignore the history of the racialization of women’s wombs, French feminists inevitably ended up defending the rights of white women at the expense of women of color. Ultimately, Vergès demonstrates how the forced abortions on Reunion were manifestations of the legacies of the racialized violence of slavery and colonialism. "THE WOMBS OF WOMEN, originally published in France in 2017 as Le Ventre des femmes, and translated into English by French and Africana studies scholar Kaiama Glover, is Françoise Vergès's examination of the 1970s scandal in Réunion upon the discovery that doctors had performed thousands of abortions on Réunionese women without their knowledge, and had collected Social Security reimbursements by over-reporting and falsifying medical costs. For Vergès, the scandal and its aftermath-in which the doctors responsible received minimal to no legal or criminal repercussions, and the Réunionese women received no reparations-exemplifies the coloniality of power in French overseas departments in the postcolonial era. In this book, one of Vergès's primary aims is to interrogate the French definition of the "postcolonial," positing the postcolonial not as a temporality but rather a set of practices and politics that took (and continue to take) place in the wake of the empire's supposed dissolution. Postcoloniality, according to Vergès, is therefore not the end of the colonial relationship but a re-imagining of the colonial territory into French constituencies and "overseas" departments, and is the condition which allowed for the abuse and violence against Réunionese women to take place. In particular, Vergès examines the history of racialized capitalism in Réunion, and the changing discourses of birth control and population management in France and the overseas territories that occured in the transitional moment from colonial to postcolonial. Additionally, this book seeks to intervene in the raced and classed constructions of French feminism and to ask why the voices of women from the overseas departments rarely appear in French feminist analysis. Chapter 1 offers a detailed account of the events surrounding the forced abortions and sterilization of Réunionese women. Chapters 2 and 4 provide historical context for understanding the transition from colonial to postcolonial in the overseas departments, and how population management came to define the postcolonial condition of Réunion. Chapter 3 foregrounds the workings of racial capitalism, and specifically how the wombs of black women are raced. Chapter 5 intervenes in constructions of French feminism and centers the experiences of women living in the French overseas departments. This book will be of interests to scholars of feminism; colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial studies; French studies; African studies; and critical ethnic studies"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Contents 8 Preface 10 Translator’s Introduction by Kaiama L. Glover 14 Introduction 20 1. The Island of Doctor Moreau 30 2. The Rhetoric of “Impossible Development”: Dependency, Repression, and Anticolonial Struggle 48 3. The Wombs of Black Women, Capitalism, and the International Division of Labor 68 4. “The Future Is Elsewhere" 82 5. French Feminist Blindness: Race, Coloniality, Capitalism 108 Conclusion: Repoliticizing Feminism 134 Notes 144 Index 176 A 176 B 176 C 177 D 177 E 178 F 178 G 178 H 178 I 179 J 179 K 179 L 179 M 179 N 179 O 180 P 180 Q 180 R 180 S 180 T 180 U 181 V 181 W 181 Z 181 Françoise Vergès Examines The Scandal Of White Doctors Forcefully Terminating The Pregnancies Of Thousands Of Poor Women Of Color On The French Island Of Réunion During The 1960s, Showing How They Resulted From The Legacies Of The Racialized Violence Of Slavery And Colonialism. Francoise Verges examines the scandal of white doctors forcefully terminating the pregnancies of thousands of poor women of color on the French island of Reunion during the 1960s, showing how they resulted from the legacies of the racialized violence of slavery and colonialism.