Department of History

Emma Wathen

Email: ewathen@wisc.edu

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

Emma Wathen 2023

Biography

I study reproductive activism by and for people with disabilities in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. My other research interests include early twentieth-century obstetrical experimentation and reproduction within early twentieth-century women’s carceral institutions. I am also a cohost for the Disability History Association Podcast.

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”

Working Dissertation Title

  • “A Disability History of Reproduction in the United States, 1950–94”

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.

Selected Awards

  • Campus-Wide Early Excellence in Teaching Award (2023)
  • Deborah A. Hobbins Graduate Student Award in Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice (2022–23)
  • History Department Early Excellence in Teaching Award (2022)

Professional Affiliations

  • American Association for the History of Medicine
  • Disability History Association

Courses Taught as TA

  • History 101: American History to the Civil War Era: The Origin & Growth of the U.S.
  • History of Science 133: Biology and Society, 1950-Today
  • History of Science 212: Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine
  • Medical History and Bioethics 553: International Health and Global Society

Courses Taught as Instructor

  • History of Science 212: Bodies, Diseases, and Healers: An Introduction to the History of Medicine