From the Waiting Room to the Delivery Room

Discover the fifth session of the 2025–2026 seminar series "Crossed Perspectives on Early Childhood" – "From the Waiting Room to the Delivery Room: Contemporary Redefinitions of Fatherhood in Turkey".

The seminar approaches early childhood as a social, historical, and cultural construct. Knowledge and theories relating to conception, birth, and child development are analysed in terms of the child’s interactions with their surroundings and according to gender norms. The seminar also explores the boundaries of this age category and its temporality, according to medical, international, anthropological, and historical standards.

Drawing on ethnographic research, this session examines contemporary transformations in fatherhood in Turkey, focusing on the roles, expectations, and practices of fathers during pregnancy and childbirth. The seminar explores how cultural, social, and institutional factors shape paternal involvement, and how these practices intersect with broader discussions on gender and family.

• Selen Gobelez: Postdoctoral researcher in sociology at the University of Nîmes (UPR Chrome)
• Discussant: Doris Bonnet: Anthropologist (IRD, Ceped)