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Sydni Zastre

History, University of Birmingham

Thesis title:

Writing the pregnant body in Britain, 1918-1945


Research Area

  • Cultural History
  • History

Publications


Conferences

  • Social History Society annual conference, Durham University, Durham, UK (July 2024)
    • Paper: 'I am writing for advice about a very intimate matter: Constructing the pregnant self in letters to Marie Stopes'
    • Panel chair: Women's Work
  • International Association for Maternal Action and Scholarship (IAMAS) annual conference, Boston University, Boston, USA (June 2024)
    • Paper: 'The present flower of human development: Maternal age in Marie Stopes' Radiant Motherhood (1920)'
  • British Association of Victorian Studies (BAVS) annual conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK (Aug/Sep 2023)
    • Paper: 'The Haunting(s) of Lady Jane: Gender, Grief, and Ghosts in the Search for the Franklin Expedition, 1845-1860' (unpublished)
  • Maternal Bodies Symposium, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (June 2023)
    • Paper: 'White Femininity and the Ideal Pregnant Body in Marie Stopes' Radiant Motherhood (1921)' (unpublished)
    • Co-organiser, co-host, panel chair
    • M4C CDF event
  • Exploring the Royal Society of Medicine: A Health/Humanities Symposium, Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK (March 2023)
    • Paper: 'From One Agony to Another: Chronic Illness and the Downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots' (unpublished)
    • M4C CDF event
  • Constellations Undergraduate Symposium, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (March 2019)

Public Engagement & Impact

  • Glasgow University Feminist Society 'Tuesday Talks,' 15 March 2022: Gender and Genocide

Other Research Interests

  • Sensual history
  • Emotional history
  • Literary history
  • Material culture
  • German studies

Memberships

  • Maternal Bodies Network (founding member)
  • Culture and the Reproductive Body Network
  • International Association for Maternal Action and Scholarship
  • Perceptions of Pregnancy Research Network
  • Women's History Network
  • Social History Society
  • Society for the Social History of Medicine
  • North American Association for Victorian Studies
  • International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association

Teaching

  • The Making of the Modern World ca. 1500-1800
    • PGTA for first-year module
    • 2x seminar groups
    • Autumn term 2024