AFFINITY
Solidarities of
Reproduction & Relationships
1 - 3 September 2026
Future Africa | University of Pretoria | South Africa
Keynote Speakers
Prof. Marcia Inhorn
Marcia C. Inhorn, PhD, MPH, is the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Yale University, where she serves as Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies. A leading expert on Middle Eastern gender, religion, and health, Dr. Inhorn has conducted groundbreaking research on infertility and assisted reproductive technologies across the Middle East and Arab America for over 35 years.
About Affinity
As a follow-up to the Re-worlding Reproduction conference held at the University of Pretoria in 2024, Affinity considers the ongoing attempts to create, contest, and nurture ideas of similarity, closeness and attraction. We gather to remake how reproduction is known, lived and valued through solidarities that transcend blood, extend across relationships, and cross disciplinary divides.
Thematic Threads
Submissions should address one or more of the following themes that explore the complexities of reproductive life and relationships.
Longing
Fosterage, adoption, chosen kin, biomedical technologies, temporalities of waiting
Labour
The institutions, labour and informal networks that sustain reproductive life—from clinics and pharmacies to aunties, doulas, and medical aid
Living/Life
The everyday politics of relatedness and kinning, technologies and/or ecologies of reproduction and relatedness; the work of sustaining ties in damaged and transforming environments
Love
Desire, sex, attraction, intimacies, technologies, and the politics of control
Liberation
Ethical refusals, the choice to be childfree, reproductive autonomy, and reproductive justice
Listening/Looking
Methods for studying affinity: decolonial, collaborative, and creative methods of tracing relations and relatedness
Limits
Rights, justice, ethics, consent, accountability, surveillance
Complete Call for Papers
Registration
Registration will open at early-bird rates on 1 May 2026, and regular registration will open on 15 June 2026. Registration will close on 31 July 2026.
Please find the list of qualifying countries for Africa and Low-Income Countries here. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)compiles this information and revises it every three years.
Please note that all rates exclude accommodation and flights and include refreshments and lunch
Early Bird Rates
Early Bird rates 1 May 2026 to 14 June 2026
Limited Early Career bursaries available. Please email Charlotte Visagie at charlotte.visagie@up.ac.za for more information.
Normal Rates
Normal rates 15 June 2026 to 31 July 2026
Limited Early Career bursaries available. Please email Charlotte Visagie at charlotte.visagie@up.ac.za for more information.
Submit Your Abstract
We invite creative, insurgent, and grounded scholarship that centres African and Global South perspectives.
Individual Submissions
Title of presentation
Abstract up to 250 words
Brief biographical note (max 100 words)
Group/Panel Submissions
Title and overview (up to 250 words)
5 speakers with 1-sentence bios each
Short descriptions for each presentation