Irina Herb

Irina Herb analyses sociological processes of "doing property" in transnational economies of reproduction in the sub-project C02.

Irina Herb studied Sociology at the Georg-August University of Göttingen and International Relations at the University of Oxford. She worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Diversity Research (Göttingen) and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (Göttingen) and spend research visits at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Leipzig). Following her studies, she worked as a researcher at a think tank on environmental policies.

Irina Herb is interested in Marxist theories in the context of social reproduction, reproductive justice and reproductive technologies, racism and decoloniality, as well as socialist critiques, movements, family models and utopias.

Email: irina.herb@uni-jena.de

Research project

Title: “Who Owns the Means of Reproduction and Commodification? The Political Economy of Assisted Reproductive Technologies“ (since 11/2022)

In her doctoral project, she concerns herself with Marxist-feminist perspectives on social reproduction, with a focus on reproductive technologies. Empirically, she examines the privatisation and financialisation of fertility clinics, as well as the question of how egg donors and recipients discursively grasp the commodification of body parts. Analytically, builds on and adds to social reproduction theory (SRT) around Tithi Bhattacharya and others.

Activities

Publications

Scientific publications

Graefe, S.; Herb, I.; Lettow, S. (eds.): Dimensions of Property in Reproductive Economies. Practices, Discourses, and Structures. Campus Verlag, (in preparation).
Herb, I.; Uhlmann, S. (2024): “Zum Widerspruch zwischen Akkumulation und der Reproduktion von Leben. Social Reproduction Theory als umfassende Analyse kapitalistischer Gesellschaften?”, In: PROKLA. Zeitschrift für Kritische Sozialwissenschaft 54(214), 11-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v54i214.2107.
Herb, I.; Abdel-Fatah, D.; Chakraborty, D.; Edwards, G. (2023): "Nancy Fraser’s Cannibal Capitalism: An Extended Discussion“, In: Historical Materialism Bookreviews, https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/book-review/nancy-frasers-cannibal-capitalism-extended-discussion.

Media and podcasts

Herb, I.; Uhlmann, S. (2024): “Social Reproduction Theory: Ein neuer Ansatz der feministischen Ökonomik?”, article for Exploring Economics.
Nolte, A.; Herb, I. (2024): “‚Wish for a Baby‘ – der Markt der unendlichen Möglichkeiten“, article at Gunder Werner Institut (29.05.2024).
Herb, Irina (2024): “Attraktiv für Investoren und Konzerne. Das Geschäft mit unerfüllten Kinderwünschen boomt.“, In: Bioskop. Zeitschrift zur Beobachtung der Biowissenschaften, No. 105, 10-11.
Herb, I,; Uhlmann, S. (2024): “Social Reproduction Theory: Kapitalistische Widersprüche. Die Theorie sozialer Reproduktion will den Kapitalismus und seinen Widerspruch zwischen Sorge und Profit umfassend begreifen”, In: nd. Journalismus von Links. (published on 08.03.2024)
Herb, Irina (2023): “Wenn Wall Street & Co. bei der Schwangerschaft mitreden”, article at Heinrich Böll Stiftung. (published on 01.09.2023)
Herb, I.; Wenner, Z. (2023): “Who owns and controls the means of reproduction? Assisted fertility and pregnancy as a multi-billion dollar market”, In: blog of the Collaborative Research Centre “Structural Change of Property”. (published on 18.08.2023)

Lectures

“Zum Widerspruch zwischen Kapitalakkumulation und der Reproduktion von Leben – Einwürfe zur feministischen politischen Ökonomie“, lecture together with Sarah Uhlmann as part of the lecture series “Systemfrage – Veranstaltungsreihe zur Wirtschaft nach dem Neoliberalismus“ (21.11.2024)
“Who owns the Means of Reproduction? or: How we Cannot Think about Reproduction without thinking about Asset Management Firms“, contribution to the conference Care, Commons, Reproduction: The 2024 CRMEP Graduate Conference, Kingston University (23.–24.05.2024)
“Wages for Pregnancy and Fertility? The Body as Commodity in the Context of Assisted Reproductive Technologies from a Marxist-Feminist Perspective”, contribution to the conference The International Marxist Feminist Conference:Body, Work and Care in Contemporary Digital Capitalism. (18.11.2023)
Input by Irina Herb “Fertilität als Ökonomie? Selbstbestimmung im Kontext von ökonomischen Strukturen” at the Feminist Lunch: Reproduktive Selbstbestimmung für alle? – Grüne Narrative und Strategien für die Regierungskommission of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. (14.06.2023)
“Who Should Own the Means of Reproduction? Discussing Assisted Reproductive Technologies from a Materialist Perspective” at the conference “historical materialism: State in/and Crisis. Theory and Movement in a Dangerous World” at the Panteion University Athen. (20. to 23.04.2023.).
Input by Irina Herb: "Die Wirtschaft in der Politik der Eizellspende“, as part of the professional exchange "Mögliche Szenarien der Kommissionsempfehlungen" of Gunda-Werner Institute (11.04.2023).

Subprojects

C02 Property in the human body in the context of transnational economies of reproduction.

Researcher