Addressing Black Maternal Health: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration

On Tuesday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Commonwealth Honors College event hall, the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing will host “Addressing Black Maternal Health: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration.” This event aims to bring awareness to Black Maternal Health through the interdisciplinary scholarship of faculty throughout the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Faculty from nursing, history, Afro-American studies, public health, linguistics, sociology, biology, art history, psychology, engineering, nutrition and information and computer sciences will participate in the event.

Lucinda Canty, associate professor and director of the Seedworks Health Equity Program in the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, will discuss the maternal health crisis and how Black women disproportionately represent poor maternal health outcomes. Charmaine Nelson from the department of art history will discuss her research on this topic in the period of slavery in relation to enslaved female fugitives and enslaved females in general. An interdisciplinary research panel will highlight the maternal health research conducted at the university.

There will also be a personal narratives panel of faculty who have had experiences with severe maternal morbidity and a panel for Ph.D. students from various disciplines to discuss their research. Drama and dance will also be incorporated throughout the event.

The intended audiences are campus and local community members, and anyone interested in learning about and understanding Black maternal health. The event is sponsored by the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the History of Art and Architecture department, the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, the Commonwealth Honors College, the departments of American Studies and Black Studies at Amherst College and through funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

To register to attend this event, visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18Vkv7xTJ0zKySEZTb5iQBucoPkXCZzvReS0tNk4a81Y/edit?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0