Bio

Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz is an F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa, where she studies the cultural politics of reproduction.

 

In her first book, Homeland Maternity: US Security Culture and the New Reproductive Regime (University of Illinois Press, 2019), Fixmer-Oraiz examines discursive alignments between motherhood and nation in the homeland security state. Tracing the recent history of US reproductive politics, Homeland Maternity clarifies the communicative challenges facing advocates for reproductive justice. She has also published articles on queer family formation, feminist activism within and beyond state borders, transnational solidarity for reproductive justice, and the policing of pregnancy and parenting in the United States.

 

Current research includes a collaborative book project with Professor Shui-yin Sharon Yam, Doing Gender Justice: Queering Reproduction, Kin, and Care (forthcoming with Johns Hopkins University Press). This book explores how reproductive justice advocates, midwives, doulas, and queer parents create trans-affirming spaces for family formation in mediated and interpersonal exchanges. Fixmer-Oraiz is also the co-editor of the recently-launched book series, Locating Reproductive Justice: Global and Regional Perspectives, as well as co-director of the Obermann Reproductive Justice working group, with Professor Lina-Maria Murillo.

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Professor Fixmer-Oraiz teaches courses in cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, social movements and feminist media studies. She has a professional background in non-profit, grassroots organizing, and health advocacy, and is currently engaged in various community-based initiatives for reproductive justice. Her work has appeared in media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Des Moines Register, Iowa Public Radio, and a handful of feminist podcasts. She is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.