Description

This event will be a book talk/launch for Dr Andrea Ford's ethnographic study, Near Birth: Contested Values and the Work of Doulas (UC Press 2025) https://www.ucpress.edu/books/near-birth/paper. The talk will feature two discussants - one a philosopher, one a practitioner - and oriented not just about the book itself but about why birth matters for human health, well-being, and society. Far from being a niche topic or one-off event, birth is a window onto cultural values that affect everyone, and everyone should care about how births happen. For more, please see a blog post I wrote about this: https://www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/how-should-babies-be-born-the-question-contains-worlds

The event will ideally be held at a local bookshop (Tills has expressed interest, and Lighthouse would be a good additional option) to be more accessible to a general public than a university venue. A good amount of time would be reserved for audience Q+A, and refreshments would be served to facilitate conversation.