The Uses of Partus Sequitur Ventrem: Black Mothers in Higher Education

Abstract

This conceptual article identifies the ways that the seventeenth-century slave code, partus sequitur ventrem (PSV), “the child follows the mother” is a functioning allochronism that undergirds the treatment of Black mothers in contemporary institutions of higher education. Through conceptualizing three functions of PSV, pathology, appropriation, and erasure, the author animates the ways that the academy continues to recreate U.S. il/logics committed to the exploitation of Black maternity.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Minnesota-Twin cities.