DOCSLIB.ORG

Reproducing Women: Female Bodily Narratives and English Patriarchies, 1600-1660

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reproducing Women: Female Bodily Narratives and English Patriarchies, 1600-1660 REPRODUCING WOMEN: FEMALE BODILY NARRATIVES AND ENGLISH PATRIARCHIES, 1600-1660 BY SARA D. LUTTFRING DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Catharine Gray, Chair Associate Professor Zachary Lesser, University of Pennsylvania Professor Emerita Carol Thomas Neely Associate Professor Lori Humphrey Newcomb Abstract During the early Stuart period, England’s return to male monarchal rule resulted in the emergence of a political analogy that understood the authority of the monarch to be rooted in the “natural” authority of the father; consequently, the mother’s authoritative role within the family was repressed. As the literature of the period recognized, however, there would be no family unit for the father to lead without the words and bodies of women to make narratives of dynasty and legitimacy possible. Early modern discourse reveals that the reproductive roles of men and women, and the social hierarchies that grow out of them, are as much a matter of human design as of divine or natural law. Moreover, despite the attempts of James I and Charles I to strengthen royal patriarchal authority, the role of the monarch was repeatedly challenged on stage and in print even prior to the British Civil Wars and the 1649 beheading of Charles I. Texts produced at moments of political crisis reveal how women could uphold the legitimacy of familial and political hierarchies, but they also disclose patriarchy’s limits by representing “natural” male authority as depending in part on women’s discursive control over their bodies. Due to the epistemological instability of the female reproductive body, women play a privileged interpretive role in constructing patriarchal identities. The dearth of definitive knowledge about the female body during this period, and the consequent inability to fix or stabilize somatic meaning, led to the proliferation of differing, and frequently contradictory, depictions of women’s bodies. The female body became a site of contested meaning in early modern discourse, with men and women struggling for dominance, and competitors so diverse as to include kings, midwives, scholars of anatomy, and female religious sectarians. Essentially, this competition came down to a question of where to locate somatic meaning: In the opaque, uncertain bodies of women? In women’s equally uncertain and ii unreliable words? In the often contradictory claims of various male-authored medical treatises? In the whispered conversations that took place between women behind the closed doors of birthing rooms? My dissertation traces this representational instability through plays by William Shakespeare, John Ford, Thomas Middleton, and William Rowley, as well as in monstrous birth pamphlets, medical treatises, legal documents, histories, satires, and ballads. In these texts, the stories women tell about and through their bodies challenge and often supersede male epistemological control. These stories, which I term female bodily narratives, allow women to participate in defining patriarchal authority at the levels of both the family and the state. After laying out these controversies and instabilities surrounding early modern women’s bodies in my first chapter, my remaining chapters analyze the impact of women’s words on four distinct but overlapping reproductive issues: virginity, pregnancy, birthing room rituals, and paternity. In chapters 2 and 3, I reveal how women construct the inner, unseen “truths” of their reproductive bodies through speech and performance, and in doing so challenge the traditional forms of male authority that depend on these very constructions for coherence. Chapter 2 analyzes virginity in Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s play The Changeling (1622) and in texts documenting the 1613 Essex divorce, during which Frances Howard, like Beatrice- Joanna in the play, was required to undergo a virginity test. These texts demonstrate that a woman’s ability to feign virginity could allow her to undermine patriarchal authority within the family and the state, even as they reveal how men relied on women to represent their reproductive bodies in socially stabilizing ways. During the British Civil Wars and Interregnum (1642-1660), Parliamentary writers used Howard as an example of how the unruly words and bodies of women could disrupt and transform state politics by influencing court faction; in doing so, they also revealed how female bodily narratives could help recast political historiography. In iii chapter 3, I investigate depictions of pregnancy in John Ford’s tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1633) and in early modern medical treatises from 1604 to 1651. Although medical texts claim to convey definitive knowledge about the female reproductive body, in actuality male knowledge frequently hinged on the ways women chose to interpret the unstable physical indicators of pregnancy. In Ford’s play, Annabella and Putana take advantage of male ignorance in order to conceal Annabella’s incestuous, illegitimate pregnancy from her father and husband, thus raising fears about women’s ability to misrepresent their bodies. Since medical treatises often frame the conception of healthy, legitimate offspring as a matter of national importance, women’s ability to conceal or even terminate their pregnancies could weaken both the patriarchal family and the patriarchal state that the family helped found. Chapters 4 and 5 broaden the socio-political ramifications of women’s words and bodies by demonstrating how female bodily narratives are required to establish paternity and legitimacy, and thus help shape patriarchal authority at multiple social levels. In chapter 4, I study representations of birthing room gossip in Thomas Middleton’s play, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1613), and in three Mistris Parliament pamphlets (1648) that satirize parliamentary power. Across these texts, women’s birthing room “gossip” comments on and critiques such issues as men’s behavior towards their wives and children, the proper use of household funds, the finer points of religious ritual, and even the limits of the authority of the monarch. The collective speech of the female-dominated birthing room thus proves central not only to attributing paternity to particular men, but also to the consequent definition and establishment of the political, socio-economic, and domestic roles of patriarchy. Chapter 5 examines anxieties about paternity in William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1611) and in early modern monstrous birth pamphlets from 1600 to 1647, in which children born with congenital iv deformities are explained as God’s punishment for the sexual, religious, and/or political transgressions of their parents or communities. Both the play and the pamphlets explore the formative/deformative power of women’s words and bodies over their offspring, a power that could obscure a father’s connection to his children. However, although the pamphlets attempt to contain and discipline women’s unruly words and bodies with the force of male authority, the play reveals the dangers of male tyranny and the crucial role of maternal authority in reproducing and authenticating dynastic continuity and royal legitimacy. My emphasis on the socio-political impact of women’s self-representation distinguishes my work from that of scholars such as Mary Fissell and Julie Crawford, who claim that early modern beliefs about the female reproductive body influenced textual depictions of major religious and political events, but give little sustained attention to the role female speech plays in these representations. In contrast, my dissertation reveals that in such texts, patriarchal society relies precisely on the words women speak about their own and other women’s bodies. Ultimately, I argue that female bodily narratives were crucial in shaping early modern culture, and they are equally crucial to our critical understanding of sexual and state politics in the literature of the period. v Dedicated to the memory of Elmer Drerup Mildred Fletcher William Luttfring, Jr. vi Acknowledgments My dissertation examines how female bodies are collectively created, formed through discourse and debate, and this project is itself the result of many collaborations. In the course of its composition, I presented sections from this dissertation at the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies 25th Annual Graduate Student Conference; the Renaissance Conference of Southern California 52nd Annual Meeting; the Ninth Annual Graduate Symposium on Women’s and Gender History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the South-Central Renaissance Conference 58th Annual Meeting; and three Shakespeare Association of America seminars. Thank you to all who offered feedback on my work at these conferences. Longer sections from this project were discussed at meetings of the University of Illinois Early Modern Workshop and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Fellows’ Seminar, and the advice and encouragement I received from both groups was generous and invaluable. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be a member of the brilliant community of scholars that makes up the English department at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. My cohort of fellow graduate students provided advice, sympathy, and laughter throughout the ups and downs of grad school; I feel especially honored
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sir Thomas Overbury -- My 10Th Great-Uncle Brother of My 9Th Great-Grandfather Sir Giles Overbury - by David Arthur
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Overbury Sir Thomas Overbury -- My 10th Great-Uncle Brother of My 9th Great-Grandfather Sir Giles Overbury - by David Arthur Sir Thomas Overbury (baptized 1581 – 14 September 1613) was an English poet and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial. His poem A Wife (also referred to as The Wife), which depicted the virtues that a young man should demand of a woman, played a large role in the events that precipitated his murder. http://www.edavidarthur.net/Quotes.htm Quotes attributed to Sir Thomas Overby Background Thomas Overbury was the son of Mary Palmer and Nicholas Overbury, of Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucester. He was born at Compton Scorpion, near Ilmington, in Warwickshire. In the autumn of 1595, he became a gentleman commoner of Queen's College, Oxford, took his degree of BA in 1598 and came to London to study law in the Middle Temple. He soon found favour with Sir Robert Cecil, travelled on the Continent and began to enjoy a reputation for an accomplished mind and free manners. Robert Carr About 1601, whilst on holiday in Edinburgh, he met Robert Carr, then an obscure page to the Earl of Dunbar. A great friendship was struck up between the two youths, and they came up to London together. The early history of Carr remains obscure, and it is probable that Overbury secured an introduction to court before his young associate contrived to do so. At all events, when Carr attracted the attention of James I in 1606 by breaking his leg in the tilt-yard, Overbury had for some time been servitor-in-ordinary to the king.
    [Show full text]
  • Camora 1.Pdf
    The Function of the Rhetoric of Maternity in the Representation of Female Sexuality, Religion, Nationality, and Race in Early Modern English Literature and Culture by Cecilia Morales A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (English Language and Literature) in the University of Michigan 2020 Doctoral Committee: Professor Michael Schoenfeldt, Chair Dr. Neeraja Aravamudan, Edward Ginsberg Center, University of Michigan Professor Peggy McCracken Professor Catherine Sanok Professor Valerie Traub Cecilia Morales [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7428-3777 © Cecilia Morales 2020 Acknowledgements Throughout my doctoral studies, I have been fortunate to have the love and support of countless individuals, to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude. I’d like to begin by thanking my committee members. Cathy and Peggy taught me valuable lessons not only about my work but about being a thoughtful and compassionate scholar and teacher. Valerie’s reminders to always be as generous as possible when discussing the work of other scholars has kept me sane and stable in this competitive world of academia. Mike helped me, a displaced Texan, to feel at home in Michigan from our first meeting, during which we chatted about both Shakespearean scholarship and Tex Mex. Finally, the most recent addition to my committee is Neeraja Aravamudan, who I consider my most active mentor and supporter. One of the best decisions I made during graduate school was accepting an internship at the Edward Ginsberg Center, where Neeraja became my supervisor. Neeraja and the other Ginsberg staff remind me it’s possible to take my work very seriously without taking myself too seriously.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the Relationship Between the Concept and Treatment of People with Down's Syndrome in Britain and America from 1866 to 1967
    THE HISTORY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONCEPT AND TREATMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA FROM 1866 TO 1967. BY Lilian Serife ZihniB.Sc. P.G.C.E. FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 1 Abstract This thesis fills a gap in the history of mental handicap by focusing on a specific mentally handicapping condition, Down's syndrome, in Britain and America. This approach has facilitated an examination of how various scientific and social developments have actually affected a particular group of people with handicaps. The first chapter considers certain historiographical problems this research has raised. The second analyses the question of why Down's syndrome, which has certain easily identifiable characteristics associated with it, was not recognised as a distinct condition until 1866 in Britain. Subsequent chapters focus on the concept and treatment of Down's syndrome by the main nineteenth and twentieth century authorities on the disorder. The third chapter concentrates on John Langdon Down's treatment of 'Mongolian idiots' at the Royal Earlswood Asylum. The fourth chapter examines Sir Arthur Mitchell's study of 'Kalmuc idiots' in private care. The fifth considers how Down's and Mitchell's theories were developed by later investigators, with particular reference to George Shuttleworth's work. Archive materials from the Royal Albert, Royal Earlswood and Royal Scottish National Institutions are used. The sixth focuses on the late nineteenth century American concept and treatment of people with Down's syndrome through an analysis of the work of Albert Wilmarth.
    [Show full text]
  • Prenatal Care
    Prenatal ar @ftffi#a\ffiffi Provided by the Maternal and Child Health Library, Georgetown University SeeThat the Birth of Your Baby Is Registered The birth of your baby should be registered promptly and properly. This is of utmost importance and should be done within 36 hours after the baby's birth. The physician, midwife, nurse, or other attendant is required in. every State to report the birth to the local registrar, who will see that the date of birth and the child's name, together with other related facts, are made matters of perhanent record. Birth registration is necessary in order to prove the date of your child's birth and his citizenship. His right to enter school, to go to work, to inherit property, to marry, to enter the armed forces, and to hold office depend upon proof of age or citizenship or both, and this proof is most readily established by means of a birth certificate. Proof of age is also necessary in order to obtain certain benefits under the Social Security Act, such as aid to dependent children and old age and survivors insurance. If there is any doubt about whether the birth of a child has been registered,an inquiry may be sent to the State board of health where the records are filed. By making sure that the birth of every child born to them is registered, parents are protecting the fundamental rights of their children. It is suggested that the parents keep a memorandum of certain facts recorded in the birth certificate: Baby's name Father's name.
    [Show full text]
  • The Performing Mother: Maternal Ethics Beyond
    THE PERFORMING MOTHER: MATERNAL ETHICS BEYOND EMBODIMENT by CHARLES HICKS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 2015 Copyright © by Charles Hicks 2015 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements I am indebted to the plethora of individuals that have made this work possible. My committee – Penelope Ingram, Tim Richardson, and Neill Matheson – has worked tirelessly in order to encourage the progress of this project at all stages. Penelope Ingram especially has fostered an environment of intellectual growth throughout and offered invaluable advice at all junctures. As a mentor she has surpassed all imaginable expectations and, as a scholar, has provided an exceptional and admirable model of academic prowess. The exigence of this project and my academic thought lies primarily in the three classes of hers that I was fortunate enough to attend and her work, Signifying Body offered me the opportunity to find my voice in a complex and challenging discourse. Peers and mentors from within the English Department at the University of Texas at Arlington have helped tremendously with the completion of this project. It would be remiss not acknowledge the tremendous guidance provided by Bruce Krajewski, whose insight and experience were invaluable. Bethany Shaffer provided not only kindness during my most stressful times, but encouragment that was essential. In addition, Peggy Kulesz’s support to not only this project, but my academic career in its entirety, cannot be quantified. There are few people that have had a more profoundly positive influence on my life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pregnant Imagination, Fetal Rights, and Women's Bodies: a Historical Inquiry
    The Pregnant Imagination, Fetal Rights, and Women's Bodies: A Historical Inquiry Julia Epstein* Competing historical and cultural understandings of the human body make clear that medicine and the law construe bodily truths from differing knowledge bases. Jurists rely virtually entirely on medical testimony to analyze biological data, and medical profes- sionals are not usually conversant with the legal ramifications of their diagnoses. In early modern Europe, both physicians and jurists recognized that their respective professions were governed by different epistemological standards, a view articulated by F6lix Vicq d'Azyr (1748-1794), anatomist and secretary to the Royal Society of Medicine in France from 1776. Vicq d'Azyr noted that while lawyers were required to make unyielding decisions based on conflicting laws, customs, and decrees, physicians were permitted more latitude for uncertainty.' In the late twentieth century, Western medicine and law have become inextricably entwined as technologies have produced new ethical dilemmas facing medicolegal jurisprudence. The authority of women to voice and explain their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth before and during the eighteenth century contrasts powerfully with the twentieth century's reliance on medicolegal decisions to define these experiences. In early modern Europe, women controlled information, experience, and beliefs concerning reproduction, and women held authority over it. A woman only became officially and publicly pregnant when she felt her * The author would like to thank Robert Kieft, Reference Librarian at Haverford College, and the librarians at the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for research assistance. Estelle Cohen, Ruth Colker, Kathryn Kolbert, Linda McClain, Nigel Paneth, Reva Siegel, and M.
    [Show full text]
  • A Pilgrimage Through English History and Culture (F-L)
    Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Faculty Publications 2009-05-01 A Pilgrimage Through English History and Culture (F-L) Gary P. Gillum [email protected] Susan Wheelwright O'Connor Alexa Hysi Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub Part of the English Language and Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Gillum, Gary P.; O'Connor, Susan Wheelwright; and Hysi, Alexa, "A Pilgrimage Through English History and Culture (F-L)" (2009). Faculty Publications. 12. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/12 This Other is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 833 FAIRFAX, JOHN, 1623-1700. Rare 922.542 St62f 1681 Presbýteros diples times axios, or, The true dignity of St. Paul's elder, exemplified in the life of that reverend, holy, zealous, and faithful servant, and minister of Jesus Christ Mr. Owne Stockton ... : with a collection of his observations, experiences and evidences recorded by his own hand : to which is added his funeral sermon / by John Fairfax. London : Printed by H.H. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Sign of the Bible and Three Crowns, at the lower end of Cheapside, 1681. Description: [12], 196, [20] p. ; 15 cm. References: Wing F 129. Subjects: Stockton, Owen, 1630-1680. Notes: Title enclosed within double line rule border. "Mors Triumphata; or The Saints Victory over Death; Opened in a Funeral Sermon ... " has special title page. 834 FAIRFAX, THOMAS FAIRFAX, Baron, 1612-1671.
    [Show full text]
  • Sotheby's Property from the Collection of Robert S Pirie Volumes I & II: Books and Manuscripts New York | 02 Dec 2015, 10:00 AM | N09391
    Sotheby's Property From The Collection of Robert S Pirie Volumes I & II: Books and Manuscripts New York | 02 Dec 2015, 10:00 AM | N09391 LOT 9 (ALMANAC, ENGLISH) WRITING TABLES WITH A KALENDER FOR XXIIII YEERES, WITH SUNDRY NECESSARYE RULES. LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES ROBERTS, FOR EDWARD WHITE, AND ARE TO BE SOLD AT THE LITTLE NORTH DORE OF PAULES, AT THE SIGNE OF THE GUNNE, 1598 16mo (3 5/8 x 2 1/2 in.; 93 x 66 mm). Title within woodcut border depicting Moses and Aaron, 3 leaves with woodcuts of coinage from various countries (total 6 pages), interleaved with 19 leaves containing a manuscript copy of a catechism dated 20 June 1610 and a 2–page geneaology of the Cholmeley family (1580–1601), and one leaf with the birth and death dates of one Edward Hanser (11 January 1811–10 August 1840, Arlington, Sussex), total of 38 pages; rather worn, title and last leaf frayed with loss of text. Contemporary doeskin wallet binding, blind-stamped; worn, one part of a clasp surviving only. Dark blue morocco-backed folding-case. ESTIMATE 4,000-6,000 USD Lot Sold: 16,250 USD PROVENANCE Cholmeley family (manuscript geneaology, 1580–1601) — Edward Hanser (birth and death dates in manuscript, 1810–1840) — Bromley K..., 1818–1846 (faded inscription inside rear front flap) — E.F. Bosanquet (bookplate on pastedown of case). acquisition: Pickering & Chatto LITERATURE STC 26050 (listing this copy and another at the University of Illinois); ESTC S113281 (cross-referenced to STC 26050 but naming Franke Adams as the maker in the title) CATALOGUE NOTE The eighth edition, one of two that mentions no maker of the tables in the title.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coroner in Early Modern England, 1580-1630
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-12-18 Crown and Community: The Coroner in Early Modern England, 1580-1630 Murray, Danielle Jean Murray, D. J. (2013). Crown and Community: The Coroner in Early Modern England, 1580-1630 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25493 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1210 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Crown and Community: The Coroner in Early Modern England, 1580-1630 by Danielle Jean Murray A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA December, 2013 © Danielle Jean Murray 2013 Abstract The role coroners played in English state formation between 1580 and 1630 is examined by looking at their relationship in the peripheries with other officials and by looking at their interactions with the state through the central court systems. Coroners were liminal figures who answered directly to the crown while maintaining loyalties to the local communities where they were elected and lived. Their role as a key interlocutor for both the crown and the community meant that they often had to deal with conflicting interests.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of Englishmen Studies in the History of Political Thought
    The Making of Englishmen Studies in the History of Political Thought Edited by Terence Ball, Arizona State University JÖrn Leonhard, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Wyger Velema, University of Amsterdam Advisory Board Janet Coleman, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Vittor Ivo Comparato, University of Perugia, Italy Jacques Guilhaumou, CNRS, France John Marshall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA Markku Peltonen, University of Helsinki, Finland VOLUME 8 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ship The Making of Englishmen Debates on National Identity 1550–1650 By Hilary Larkin LEIDEN • BOSTON 2014 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www. knowledgeunlatched.org. Cover illustration: Titian (c1545) Portrait of a Young Man (The Young Englishman). Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence, Italy. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Larkin, Hilary. The making of Englishmen : debates on national identity, 1550-1650 / by Hilary Larkin.
    [Show full text]
  • UC GAIA Wagner CS5.5-Text.Indd
    Pathological Bodies The Berkeley SerieS in BriTiSh STudieS Mark Bevir and James Vernon, University of California, Berkeley, editors 1. The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain, edited by Simon Gunn and James Vernon 2. Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945– 1975, by Ian Hall 3. The Savage Visit: New World People and Popular Imperial Culture in Britain, 1710– 1795, by Kate Fullagar 4. The Afterlife of Empire, by Jordanna Bailkin 5. Smyrna’s Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and the Birth of the Middle East, by Michelle Tusan 6. Pathological Bodies: Medicine and Political Culture, by Corinna Wagner Pathological Bodies Medicine and Political Culture Corinna Wagner Global, Area, and International Archive University of California Press Berkeley loS angeleS london The Global, Area, and International Archive (GAIA) is an initiative of the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the University of California Press, the California Digital Library, and international research programs across the University of California system. University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress iSBn: 978-1938169-08-3 Manufactured in the United States of America 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of anSi/niSo z39.48– 1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
    [Show full text]
  • Teratology Transformed: Uncertainty, Knowledge, and Cjonflict Over Environmental Etiologies of Birth Defects in Midcentury America
    Teratology Transformed: Uncertainty, Knowledge, and CJonflict over Environmental Etiologies of Birth Defects in Midcentury America TV Heather A. Dron DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History of Health. Sciences in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN FRANCISCO Copyright 2016 by Heather Armstrong Dron ii Acknowledgements Portions of Chapter 1 were published in an edited volume prepared by the Western Humanities Review in 2015. iii Abstract This dissertation traces the academic institutionalization and evolving concerns of teratologists, who studied environmental causes of birth defects in midcentury America. The Teratology Society officially formed in 1960, with funds and organizational support from philanthropies such as the National Foundation (Later known as The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation). Teratologists, including Virginia Apgar, the well-known obstetric anesthesiologist and inventor of the Apgar Score, were soon embroiled in public concerns about pharmaceutically mediated birth defects. Teratologists acted as consultants to industry and government on pre-market reproductive toxicology testing for pharmaceuticals. However, animal tests seemed unable to clearly predict results in humans and required careful interpretation of dosage and animal species and strain responses. By the late 1960s, amidst the popular environmental movement, teratologists grappled with public claims that birth defects resulted from exposure to industrial pollutants in water or air, or from food additives, pesticides, and industrial waste or effluent. In a crowded field of professionals concerned with pharmaceutical or chemical exposures during pregnancy, teratologists proved adaptive and resilient. Despite influences from the environmental movement, teratologists at times tried to contain the substances and outcomes considered relevant and called for greater vetting of chemical claims, amidst rampant journalistic and public accusations about iatrogenic or industrial harm.
    [Show full text]