Department of History

Emma Wathen

Position title: TA: History of Science 212 with Lecturer Nick Jacobson

Email: ewathen@wisc.edu

Address:
Advisor: Susan E. Lederer and Judith A. Houck
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Office: 4266 Mosse Humanities Building
Mailbox: 5054 Mosse Humanities Building
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:15-3:15pm or by appt (in person or virtual)

Emma Wathen

Biography

I study the history of pregnancy in the United States in the early twentieth century. My research interests include the pregnancy experiences of early twentieth-century women, medical experimentation on pregnant people and infants, and reproduction within early twentieth-century carceral institutions.

Education

M.A., History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021
B.A., History & Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017

Field

  • Gender and Women’s History
  • U.S./North American History

MA Title

  • Known to Be Harmless, Harmed to Be Known: Medical Experimentation on Pregnant Women and Infants in 1930s America

Selected Publications

  • “Access Denied: Brigid McGuire vs. the University of Wisconsin-Madison.” Public History Project Blog, April 1, 2020.
  • “In Sickness and In Health?: Wisconsin’s Eugenic Marriage Law, 1913-1981.” ARCHIVE: An Undergraduate Journal of History 21 (May 2018): 61-85.
  • “Women, Good People, and Bad People: Women in Early Shanghai Cinema.” ARCHIVE: An Undergraduate Journal of History 19 (May 2016): 73-86.

Courses Taught as TA

  • History of Science 133: Biology and Society, 1950-Today
  • Medical History and Bioethics 553: International Health and Global Society