Where We Start Matters: A Womanist Reframing of Bioethics

Lunch at 12:00pm • Talk at 12:10pm

Varied iterations of a univocal narrative define the origins of bioethics. The starting point of this origin story has implications for addressing health disparities and inequities experienced by vulnerable populations. The questions, values, and the application of mainstream bioethics have developed in ways that restrict its approach with respect to specific vulnerable populations.

This talk considers reframing the narrative of bioethics using a particular frame of womanism with the intent to create renovated social spaces of repair where harm and death have historically resided.

Wylin D. Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv works at the intersection of religion, gender, and bioethics. Her academic interests also include rural bioethics and Black church studies. Professor Wilson is a member of the American Academy of Religion's Bioethics and Religion Program Unit Steering Committee. Her most recent book is Womanist Bioethics: Social Justice, Spirituality, and Black Women's Health.