New Maternalisms: Tales of Motherwork (dislodging the Unthinkable)

by Roksana Badruddoja

Overview

New Maternalisms”: Tales of Motherwork (Dislodging the Unthinkable) explores the perceptions of those who engage in and/or research motherwork or the labour of caregiving, and how mothers view themselves in comparison to broader normative understandings of motherwork. Here, the anthology serves to deconstruct motherwork by highlighting and dislodging it from maternal ideology, the socially constructed “good mom” (read as “sacrificial mom”) and feminized hegemonic discourse. The objective of the edited volume, then, is to critically explore how we experience motherwork, what motherwork might mean, and how motherwork impacts and is impacted by the communities in which we live. Such an examination involves contesting dominant ways of thinking about motherwork.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772580006
Publisher:	Demeter Press
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Pages:	362
Sales rank:	1,002,072
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Roksana Badruddoja is a feminine and masculine woman, a Bangladeshi American, a queer, a Muslim, a mother to a fierce 12-year-old girl, and a professor of sociology and women’s and gender studies. Before joining the faculty at Manhattan College, she was the Vice President of Research for the Partnership for the Homeless in NYC, and up until then, she was a professor at California State University, Fresno. She teaches courses on feminist research methods, women of color in the U.S., feminist activism, race and ethnicity, sociology of gender, and representations of women. Dr. Badruddoja’s research in the areas of race and ethnicity, sexuality, gender, religion, and culture, and how these impact South Asian American women has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. These include the National Women’s Studies Association Journal, the International Journal of Sociology of the Family, and the International Review of Modern Sociology. She is the author of Eyes of the Storms: The Voices of South Asian-American Women. Maki Motapanyane is an Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies in the Department of Humanities at Mount Royal University. Her teaching is rooted in liberatory pedagogy, focused in courses on colonialism and decolonization, global gender issues and transnationalism, environmental justice/liberation ecology, and Hip-Hop culture. Her research spans the fields of feminist theory, motherhood and cultural studies, with academic publications featuring a range of interrelated thematic interests including feminist theory, transnational feminist research methods, mothering and motherhood, racialized comedy in Canada, and gender in Hip-Hop culture. She is the editor of Mothering in Hip-Hop Culture: Representation and Experience (Demeter Press, 2012), and editor of Motherhood and Lone/Single Parenting: A 21st Century Perspective (Demeter Press, 2016).

Table of Contents

Introduction Invisible Identities: Centring the Voices in Motherwork by Dislodging the Unthinkable Roksana Badruddoja I. The Motherwork of Mothering Unauthorized Mothering: Legal Status, Legal Violence, and the Resilience of Undocumented Families Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez Bumpy Road, Bumpy Road, Smooth(ing the) Road: Experiences in Lesbian Mothering Elizabeth Bailey 'God Gives Us Sons, but the Government Takes Them Away': Ethiopian Wars and Motherwork Victoria Team Reframing the Street-Based Sex Worker as a 'Good' Mother Jenny Flagler-George, Ginette Lafrenière and Angie Murie Out of Time: Maternal Time and Disability Rachel Robertson How Much Time Makes a 'Good Mother'? Comparing Maternal Practice in Tanzania and the U.S. Susan L. Schalge and Sarah Monson Motherwork in the Margins: Homeless Single Mothers Marcella Catherine Gemelli II. Representation Breastfeeding in the Public Arena: The Deployment of Mixed and Contradictory Racialized Messages Martha Joy Rose 'Baby-Friendly' or 'Mother-Hostile'? Deconstructing Gender in Breastfeeding Advocacy Campaigns Jennifer Rothchild, Haley Van Cleve, Karen Mumford, and Matthew A. Johnson Quiet as It's Kept: Black Infant Mortality, Tough Love, and New Maternalisms in Ayana Mathis's The Twelve Tribes of Hattie Carly Chasin Power(ing) Mothers Umme Al-wazedi When Chickens Come Home to Signify in Our Mothers' Gardens: Alice Walker's The Chicken Chronicles and Rebecca Walker's Baby Love Mary Thompson III. Framing, Naming, and Structures Voices of 'Obstetric Violence': Violence and Victimhood Discourses in Childbirth in Brazil Mariana Marques Pulhez The Politics of Labour: Birth Narratives and the Marginalization of Motherwork Cecilia Colloseus Maternal Art Practices: In Support of New Maternalist Aesthetic Forms Eti Wade Caregiving, Human Capital, and Genetically Engineered Children in the Twenty-First Century Heather E. Dunn IV. A Politics of Possibility: Now and Beyond The Fantasy of Normative Motherhood: An Autoethnographic Account of Contesting Maternal Ideology Roksana Badruddoja Production and Reproduction: Negotiating Narratives of Labour as an Academic Mother Lenore Maybaum Toward a Theory and Praxis of Sustainable Feminism Monica J. Casper About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

The purpose of this collection lies in focusing on 'new maternalisms' by exploring motherwork or the (invisible) labour of caregiving in our everyday lived experiences. This anthology is in service to this in-between space of research and theory and the lived and everyday. The selections are written by individuals from a multitude of vantage points, ranging from academia to art to medicine. Motherhood is much more varied and individualized than the media or 'mommy and me' classes will ever divulge. The breadth of maternal experiences in this book may allow interpretation of others' experiences resulting not in judgement but in understanding. Lynn Kuechle, Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society and Founding Member of the Museum of Motherhood This rich collection draws together accomplished motherhood scholars across disciplines to raise new questions about how we define and understand global motherhood. It gives voice and new perspective to maternal figures previously less recognized in academic reading. Most importantly, the global perspectives explored in this book will raise awareness about the challenges of understanding motherhood both as an experience and a discipline. Laura Tropp, Professor, Marymount Manhattan College, author of A Womb With a View: America's Growing Public Interest in Pregnancy

From the Publisher