Scholars' Convocation
#BlackBirthMatters: Reflections on Health Humanities and the Birth Justice Movement by Latona Giwa '09
In her campus Convocation, Latona Giwa '09, a leading figure of the American Birth Justice movement, will discuss her own personal journey as a daughter of African immigrants in Minneapolis, Grinnellian, and Black mother, tracing the role of the Health Humanities in her own political development and that of her birth worker community over the last decade. She will share what inspired her commitment to perinatal health in the American South, leading her to become a Birth Doula, Registered Nurse, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and, along the way, a leader in the fight for maternal health and birth justice.
Meet Latona
Latona Giwa is a perinatal health advocate, birth doula, Registered Nurse, and Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in New Orleans, LA. In 2011, she co-founded Birthmark Doula Collective, Louisiana's largest, and the only worker-owned birthworker organization. In 2017, she co-founded the New Orleans Breastfeeding Center, Louisiana's first freestanding breastfeeding clinic. Latona organizes, writes, and builds community around the intersections of birth justice, racial justice, parenting for liberation, and Black body politics. Her analysis builds on her personal experience as a Black mother, daughter, and survivor, and her professional experience serving pregnant, birthing, and parenting families in Louisiana hospitals, classrooms, clinics, and homes.
Connection Information
Thursday, Nov. 11
Noon-1 p.m. Central time
https://grinnellcollege.webex.com/grinnellcollege/onstage/g.php?MTID=ea2e9eb07aee0504716c9e23f89e9aa23