The Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice Noted Scholars Series presents

Trans People and the Choreography of Reproductive Healthcare

Dr. A.J. Lowik

in conversation with

Allison Campbell

WHEN & WHERE
Wednesday, January 24, 12:30-1:30pm
Buchanan Tower 225 / Zoom

Please RSVP below in advance

A sandwich lunch will be served at 1:30pm.

ABSTRACT

Join Dr. A.J. Lowik (GRSJ Alum) in conversation with Allison Campbell (GRSJ PhD Candidate) as they discuss Dr. Lowik’s new book, “Trans People and the Choreography of Reproductive Healthcare: Dancing Outside the Lines.” Based on their PhD dissertation research, this talk will explore how reproductive healthcare is choreographically delivered in ways that presume that the person accessing it will be cisgender. As a result, trans people are altogether erased, systematically unanticipated, insufficiently accommodated and understood only in relation to hegemonic regulatory frameworks. Drawing on qualitative interviews and participatory photography with fourteen trans people from British Columbia, Dr. Lowik’s work uses dance as a metaphor to expose facets of the restrictive choreography of reproductive healthcare, and to document the improvisational tactics used by trans people in pursuit of care that is competent, safe, and affirming. Today’s event will include a book reading, moderated discussion and time for audience questions.

ABOUT Dr. A.J. Lowik

Dr. A.J. Lowik is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, part of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, having completed their PhD with the GRSJ in 2022. Their work is primarily focused on trans people’s health and experiences accessing healthcare, including reproductive and sexual health and they have written extensively on the topics of menstruation, abortion, perinatal care and fertility. Dr. Lowik is the Vice-President of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, a member of the BC Period Poverty Task Force, and the BC Law Institute’s Parentage Law Reform Project Committee.

They also lead the CGSHE Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement Research Equity Toolkit, creating tools for researchers who are interested in the precise, accurate, and inclusive mobilization of gender and sex concepts in health research.

ABOUT Allison Campbell

Allison is a PhD student in the Social Justice Institute. She is also a Registered Midwife and an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Midwifery Program at UBC, where she teaches, develops curriculum, and supports the learning of aspiring midwives through a social justice, anti-colonial and anti-capitalist lens.

Combining her two professional and political interests, Allison’s doctoral research focuses on perinatal health and reproductive justice in (and in relation to) prisons in Canada. She is a grateful participant in the UBC Public Scholars’ Initiative (2023/24), and recipient of a SSHRC CGS-D award (2023).

Accessibility

• This will be a virtual and in-person event in Buchanan Tower. A wheelchair accessible and single-user, gender-neutral washroom is located across from the room. Otherwise, gendered washrooms are located on alternate floors in the stairwell between floors.
• The room has a capacity of approximately 40 people and will have open windows.

Please include any additional access requests or questions in the RSVP form above.