Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4223-9997

Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environmental Studies

Second Department

Gender & Feminist Studies

Reader 1

Professor Melinda Herrold-Menzies

Reader 2

Professor Sarah Gilbert

Abstract

The rise of pronatalism in the United States constitutes a significant climate and reproductive justice concern due to its encouragement of reproduction among wealthy, high-consuming populations. Pronatalism exerts pressures on certain women to reproduce in order to reinforce existing power structures while simultaneously marginalizing and controlling the reproductive rights of others. This ideology, driven by figures in the Trump Administration, echoes historical patterns of racist and xenophobic population control measures by selectively valuing certain reproductive capacities over others. While it might seem that overpopulation concerns (the fear of too many people) and pronatalism (the fear of not enough people) represent opposing ideas, both are rooted in similar acts of nation-building that reinforce racialized and economic hierarchies. To counter the varied harm of pronatalism, kinship as forms of intentional relationships of care, responsibility, and interdependence among humans, nonhumans, and the environment is proposed. This shift towards alternative kin-making challenges the dominance of the nuclear family and heteronormativity that underpin pronatalist ideologies, offering pathways toward more connected, equitable, and sustainable ways of living.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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