Gender: New Works, New Questions: Gestating Judaism with Cara Rock-Singer

How do reproductive practices shape religious traditions, and how can the labor of reproduction become a site of feminist intervention?

Join the Institute for Research on Women & Gender for the latest installment of Gender: New Works, New Questions, featuring Gestating Judaism: The Corporeal Technologies of American Jewish Religion by Cara Rock-Singer, assistant professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan.

In Gestating Judaism, Rock-Singer examines how reproductive practices shape the transmission and reinvention of American Judaism. Bringing together religious rituals, such as the mikveh, with contemporary practices like fertility treatments, she challenges conventional distinctions between religion, science, and politics. Through an innovative approach she calls “ethnodrashy,” Rock-Singer explores how Jewish feminists use reproductive labor to engage with questions of theology, identity, and political life.

The event will feature a panel discussion with Rock-Singer, Liz Roberts, professor of anthropology, and Lisa Disch, professor of political science. The conversation will be moderated by IRWG director and professor of women’s and gender studies, Melynda Price. 

Drawing on perspectives from religious studies, anthropology, political science, and gender studies, the panel will explore how reproductive bodies become sites of religious meaning, feminist engagement, and cultural change.