Interpreting the Infanticidal Mother’s Act

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ABSTRACT The reasons for maternal infanticide have rarely been approached. The absence of analysis leaves plenty of opportunity to maintain the assumption that the infanticidal mother is a mad or bad mother. Examining a mother’s possible motivations to kill her child from clinical, sociological, psychoanalytical, and political angles can decrease harm and perhaps help us to understand why maternal infanticide is an inevitable part of human life. Moreover, interpreting her act—asking, What does this mean?—can further illuminate what she needs.