Moira Howes (Trent University)
Immunology was once considered the science of "self-nonself discrimination" and early research in pregnancy immunology was strongly influenced by this view. The accrued evidence, however, supports neither a static definition of self nor a clearly delineated self-nonself boundary. The evidence instead supports a developmental, aggregate, and environmentally integrated self-concept. In this presentation, I consider several implications of this research trajectory for our understanding of pregnancy, maternal-fetal relations, and the self. I also outline several respects in which this dynamic and non-discrete view of selfhood stands to improve the social context of pregnancy, women's health care, and reproductive rights.
