Representations Of Motherhood Research Articles

Rethinking the Mother–Daughter Plot: Female Polyphony in Najat El Hachmi’s Migration Trilogy

Abstract This article traces the various representations of motherhood in the fictional work of the Catalan-Amazigh writer Najat El Hachmi. By using a contrapuntal reading that retrieves the silenced female voices implicitly embedded in the texts, the article underlines the importance of attending to linguistic and narrative polyphony both in narratives of mothering and in texts in which the mother plays a secondary role. This multilingual and feminist approach to Edward Said’s strategy of contrapuntal reading provides new tools to revisit Marianne Hirsch’s conception of the mother–daughter plot, demonstrating that the mother’s voice is not necessarily absent in narratives of daughters, but rather unheard.

The Mathematics of Truth

K. Avvirin Berlin, “The Mathematics of Truth: Peripatetic Freedom Calculations in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth” (pp. 114–141) This essay reads passages in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave (1850) that pertain to walking and Black motherhood. In doing so, it theorizes Truth’s 1843 walking migration as a political pilgrimage whose spatial-temporal schema challenged federal and state policy. Armed with tactics borrowed from mathematics and the natural sciences, “sojourner laws” and other federal dictates worked to confine African American mothers like Truth to particular social and geographic places and to their status as enslaved and low-wage laborers. Casting a critical eye on Truth’s white feminist co-author Olive Gilbert’s representations of motherhood in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, “The Mathematics of Truth” seeks to intervene into the reception of Truth’s life and politics.

Re-appropriating Abjection: Feminism, Comics and the Macabre Coming-of-Age

Julia Kristeva’s theories on the abject have proven fruitful for feminist criticism, which has produced a huge body of research on the representation of motherhood and femininity as macabre. More recently, the concept of abjection has been blamed for supposedly legitimising, instead of questioning, hetero-patriarchal erasure of women’s subjectivity. Despite this theoretical controversy, a growing number of comics and graphic novels, where the abject is used as a technique to illustrate the formation of women and girls’ gendered identity, have been published in the last decade. This article contends that the study of graphic narratives that are concerned with a macabre coming-of-age is a crucial site for the re-appropriation of abjection. This position sees abjection as a productive critical category that reflects an ongoing effort by feminist authors to portray the troubled construction of a female Self. To corroborate this idea, the article engages with previous scholarly close readings of comics/graphic novels on girlhood and the macabre. Further recognition of the fecundity of the abject category in the realm of graphic narratives is guaranteed by the in-depth analysis of the comic zine <i>Fundo do nada </i>(2017), by the Portuguese artist Ana Caspão. This comic zine, which has been so far ignored by critics, serves as case study given its ability to describe, by means of the medium-specific features of comics, a young woman’s coming-of-age, in which the abject functions as a tool to express the disquieting process of negotiating subjectivity from a feminine positioning.

Identity Exploration and Representation of Motherhood in the Poetry of Ranu Uniyal

Ranu Uniyal, one of the important personalities of confessional mode, is always under review for her obsessive openness and pervasiveness, but she reaches her destination by displaying the sterling image of patriarchy. Uniyal’s poems not only present the everyday lived reality of ordinary women but also the strong independent women having power and who must outbrave the societal regulations and norms to assert their identity as human beings full of love and affection. Ranu Uniyal’s poems incorporate the strong experience both as a mother and as the daughter of powerful mothers whose personalities shape their identity as women. Among the modern Indian poets who are writing in English today, she has been ranked with such poetesses of dissatisfaction and discontent as Kamala Das. By engaging with the everyday life of her mother and her motherhood, the poet tries to understand the reality of universal motherhood in a poetic way. The studies of Ranu Uniyal’s poems add a new dimension to Indian poetry in English through the subtle and honest probing of man-woman relationships. She does not debunk the whole ideology of motherhood in her writing. Instead, her critical understanding of motherhood paves the path for women’s agency, autonomy, and identity regarding motherhood.

Marginalising Maternity: Iconography as Evidence for Social Ideologies in Classical Athens

ABSTRACT Representations of motherhood are rare on Athenian painted pottery from the fifth century BC. This lack of representation is surprising given producing and caring for children was one of a woman’s key duties in ancient Athenian society, and other evidence demonstrates the close bonds women had with their children, especially infants who were all the more in need of care and attention. In this article we explore the entangled lives of mothers and the youngest children – infants – in fifth century Athens to understand reasons for this under-representation. Images of childcare in iconography are surveyed to determine how women and infants are characterised in both private and public spheres. The devaluation, demonisation and appropriation of mothering within the context of fifth century Athenian society is then discussed to understand the impact of the institutional apparatus of motherhood on the experience of mothering.

Becoming a (Neuro)Migrant: Attachment, Early Stimulation, and the Government of the Future of Chile

The encounters between health institutions, practitioners, and Haitian and Dominican communities have triggered several frictions and conflicts in the public health system in Chile since 2010, especially in maternal child health. In this article, I explore the interactions between health institutions, “psy” technologies, and afro-descendant women registered in the “Chile Crece Contigo” program and how these interactions impact women’s subjectivity and everyday lives. Developmental sciences, especially neurosciences, play a crucial role in the program by promoting comprehensive childhood development. I argue that the entanglements between attachment theory, neurosciences, and epigenetics gained authority for health practitioners and shaped migrants’ representations of motherhood and child-rearing anchored in neurobiology. Although health institutions have encouraged the adoption of “cultural competencies,” practitioners’ interventions have tended to promote a neurobiological understanding of attachment and early stimulation, neglecting moral and contextual aspects involved in migrants’ parenting practices. Interventions have delineated representations of “(ab)normal” motherhood and childhood, shaping moral ideals of children’s development and a migrant citizenship project for the future of Chile. I also argue that by placing concerns on the table about migrant children’s neurobiological development and social vulnerability, the program has shaped what some researchers call the “neuroscience of poverty.”

The World around the Mother as a Gift in African Folktales and Fountain of Radical Joy

ABSTRACT In this article, I analyse selected African folktales that foreground the role of mothers in the everyday. The purpose is to appreciate the cultural logic of their representation in relation to the other characters. In the folktales, family is defined around the mother. The father is either conspicuously absent or peripheral. The mother’s self-giving and love towards the family are often radical and come with great sacrifice. Although desirable, it is not always a given that the family reciprocates her commitment. I argue that, in these African folktales, motherhood is crafted as a “gift principle” without which the family cannot survive. This representation of motherhood as “care” is archetypical, as seen in the iconography of Mother Mary in Catholicism. Why does culture endow the mother with such a radical attribute of other-centredness? Is this simply symbolic or does it cohere with the lived experiences of mothers? I draw from scholarship on feminist ethics of care and on the gift economy and motherhood. I conclude that mothers function in the folktales as humanising agents responsible for quality life in the community.

Mothers, Motherhood and the Feminine in Fiennes’s Coriolanus

ABSTRACT The representation of motherhood and the feminine in Fiennes’s Coriolanus has until recently been unduly overlooked. The present investigation provides an analysis of key aspects and crucial scenes of the film, in which the Shakespearean issues of femininity and motherhood are represented, reinforced, metaphorised and/or questioned. This paper argues that the significance of the female dimension is expanded in the cinematic version of the play and recoded in terms manageable and relevant to a new-millennium audience. This amplification of the feminine, and of motherhood in particular, partly redresses the gender balance in the film and figuratively represents what Coriolanus tries to escape but cannot avoid in his blind quest for impenetrable, self-sufficient masculinity, which is revealed as a destructive myth nurtured by the destructive mother culture of contemporary society.

Representations of motherhood in late francoist Spain: From catholic discourses to early feminist critiques

This article examines changes and continuities in the representations of motherhood at the end of Franco’s regime (c 1960-1975). Influenced by the approaches of the history of emotions, this study looks at the emotional prescriptions and norms associated with Catholic representations of motherhood and family, but also at the emotional counter-narratives of second-wave feminism in Spain. It draws on various sources, including popular and religious magazines, films, medical discourses, advice literature, illustrated books and feminist writings. The first section focuses on the most conservative depictions of motherhood at the time, those linked to Opus Dei, which praised the joys of prolific motherhood and resisted any change in social attitudes towards birth control. Modern in appearance, but very reactionary at heart, these publications intended for a popular readership disseminated an ideal of the self-sacrificing mother who never lost her smile or optimism despite the hardships of everyday life. The second section deals with a new type of advice literature for mothers aimed at disseminating the so-called painless childbirth method, which contained a conservative message about the role and emotions women should perform during labour. Thirdly, the article assesses the evolution of the most progressive Catholic discourse on motherhood and family in the 1960s and early 1970s in the context of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Finally, it studies some early feminist writings from the end of the dictatorship. In opposition to the patriarchal narratives, these critiques drew attention to the various types of violence associated with the experience and institution of motherhood.

The exploration of maternal representations during a parenthood-centred psychotherapy from pregnancy to one year postpartum

ABSTRACT Maternal representations play a key role in intrapsychic conflicts relating to accession to parenthood and in the formation of the mother–baby bond. Around the birth of the child, the shadows of past objects are cast on the baby and the parent's self-image. Mother–baby psychoanalytic psychotherapy helps us to understand internal conflicts that tend to interfere with the mother's representations of her child or of herself as a mother, as well as aiming to reduce the risk of difficulties for the child. Through a clinical case, this article explores the development of maternal representations in a course of parenthood-centred psychotherapy that begins during pregnancy and ends 11 months after the baby's birth. The psychic change carried out by the mother frees the mother–baby bond from the projections of the past. Excerpts from clinical sessions illustrate mother–baby interactions during the session, the projection of the mother's internal objects on to the baby, and the elaboration and reintrojection of the mother's internal conflicts. Changes in the mother's representations were measured both qualitatively and quantitatively using the ‘R’ interview, which allows various dimensions of these representations to be measured on a Likert scale.

Pauline Eaton, Mothers Voicing Mothering? The Representation of Motherhood in the Novels and Short Stories of Marie NDiaye

Pauline Eaton, <i>Mothers Voicing Mothering? The Representation of Motherhood in the Novels and Short Stories of Marie NDiaye</i>

Researching Motherhood in the Age of Short Videos: Stay-at-Home Mothers in China Performing Labor on Douyin

Addressing the particular context of China, this article has two aims. First, it offers reflections on the possibilities and limitations of using user-generated short videos (vlogs) as research data both methodologically and ethically. We specifically explore the potential of centering vlogs as a new format for examining motherhood behavior across online and offline spaces. Secondly, it adds to the thematic literature on the (re)production and representations of motherhood. We critically examine the rising phenomenon in China of the stay-at-home mother, by exploring how these mothers use short video platforms. Inductively learning from the thematic analysis of short videos of stay-at-home mothers published on Douyin, the patterns in the data indicate three distinct forms of labor are performed through digital motherhood practices: domestic labor, affective labor, and entrepreneurial labor. Drawing on these patterns, we update the original framework of “motherhood 2.0,” which was coined in the 2010s to address mothering practices in industrialized western societies. We extend this framework and conceptualize “motherhood 3.0” by analyzing a type of Chinese community-based intersectional performance of motherhood, gender, and labor that we see emerging in digital cultural production centered on short videos. Mediated labor within online and offline motherhood practices is informed by social, cultural, and technological factors. Digital technologies and mobile media communication provide new means for stay-at-home mothers to navigate between their roles as devoted mothers and their pursuit of self-actualization.

Motherhood Experiences of Visually Impaired and Normally Sighted Women

The present study explores the characteristics of visually impaired mothers’ personal identities as reflected in their individual representations of motherhood taking account of the impact of the specific social context on these representations. The sample included 20 visually impaired (VI) and 21 normally sighted (NS) mothers. In line with the narrative psychological approach to motherhood, each participant gave a narrative account of her related experiences in a semi-structured interview. The transcribed responses were subjected to a thematic analysis aimed at comparing the narratives of visually impaired and normally sighted mothers’ for thematic composition in order to identify shared and impairment specific themes of motherhood experiences. The motherhood experiences were sorted into eight thematic categories: Emotions; Continuity; Personal Development; Connectedness; Challenges; Partner; Roles and Principles; and Calling/Career. While in some categories VI and NS mothers showed similar patterns of experience, such as finding a new purpose in life and developing a new role in the family with the advent of pregnancy (Personal Development), in other categories motherhood experiences were thematized differently, such as VI mothers focused on challenges posed by day-to-day situations, NS mothers were rather concerned with their children’s future (Challenges). The study presents the shared and non-shared aspects of disabled and non-disabled women’s motherhood experiences with the primary aim of demonstrating the potential impact of the prevailing sociocultural norms, and attitudes considering visually impaired mothers on their motherhood experiences.

Discipline and resistance in the representation of motherhood: postpartum recovery discussion on Xiaohongshu

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the dominant discourses around postpartum recovery and mothers’ responses to them on Xiaohongshu, a popular social media platform in China. From a Foucauldian point of view, this study follows the approach of critical discourse analysis and conducts the analysis based on 300 posts about postpartum recovery. The results reveal that mothers relinquish the control of their own postpartum body to authoritative knowledge. The unattainable goal of girlishness for mothers propagates narrow visions of what a “normal” postpartum body should be by spreading the before-versus-after templates. Moreover, the dominant discourses are legitimated and penetrated by the mutually dependent and reinforcing moral regulations of the second shift (childcare) and third shift (bodywork). Therefore, mothers would internalize these discourses unconsciously, conduct better self-surveillance through quantified self-report data and invited surveillance in group settings, and pursue a docile postpartum body. This study also explores platform power in cultural production by delineating the new motherhood imaginary on the social media platform. This imaginary unpacks the competing realities of home, work, and self-care for mothers in contemporary China and extends the understanding of the new third shift bodywork as mothers’ neoliberal personal responsibilities and an emergent component of motherhood

Bad mothers, good mothers and professional mothers: a study on narratives on maternity in Spanish Instagram spaces.

This paper focuses on an analysis of the narratives present in a set of eight Instagram accounts devoted to sharing information on maternity in the Spanish context. In a qualitative approach that uses participant observation and content analysis (5184 posts), the main objective is to identify the narratives surrounding maternity and to elaborate their relationship with feminist discourses, thus comparing them with previous and current conceptions and representations of motherhood in media. A second aim is to understand the role of information and expertise in these spaces. The results reveal three approaches: affirmative and child-centred narratives, feminist counter-narratives, and discourses on professionalization and authoritative knowledge.

Maternidad y presencia femenina en La española inglesa de Cervantes

This paper studies the mother figures in La española inglesa by Cervantes. After a brief review of the representation of motherhood in the Spanish Golden Age and in Cervantes’ works, this research analyzes three characters in this exemplary novel: Catalina (the mother of Ricaredo, male protagonist), the “camarera mayor”—Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber—(the mother of the count Arnesto, principal antagonist), and the mother of Isabela (female protagonist). The analysis shows the differences between the diverse forms of motherhood and the possible preference for the model of Isabela’s mother, evidenced through poetic justice.

The influence of motherhood in the construction of female identity: A subversive approach to motherhood in Erendiz Atasü’s novels

Within masculine ideology the concept of motherhood remains essential to female identity. That is why it is important to focus on the representations of motherhood in literature, where the most controversial discussions of feminism can be found. The issue of motherhood remains an unresolved issue today, with opposing arguments even within the feminist movement. This paper aims to analyse the issue of motherhood in the novels of Erendiz Atasü, who has acquired an undisputed place as a feminist writer in Turkish literature. She undermines the traditional concept of motherhood and uses it as a tool for deciphering and transforming masculine ideology.

드라마 [산후조리원]의 모성 재현과 장르 변용

드라마 [산후조리원]의 모성 재현과 장르 변용

El vínculo mortal. La relación madre-hija en Quién te cantará (Carlos Vermut, 2018)

La relación entre madres e hijas es un tema de creciente interés en el cine español contemporáneo. A pesar del abundante corpus sobre la representación fílmica de la maternidad, este vínculo apenas se ha abordado de forma específica. A partir de los estudios de género y tomando en cuenta los motivos del cine de terror y del melodrama en el tratamiento de este tema, este artículo analiza las convenciones estéticas y narrativas que han regido la representación de este vínculo materno-filial en los largometrajes de ficción producidos en España de los últimos años. Tomando el tercer largometraje de Carlos Vermut como objeto de estudio, este trabajo concluirá que, si bien Quién te cantará (2018) mantiene algunos de los motivos tradicionales que habían configurado la representación negativa del parentesco entre madres e hijas, también amplía los arquetipos de maternidad. A partir de modalidades de madre poco ortodoxas, es una de las escasas películas que plantean este conflicto simultáneamente desde el punto de vista de la madre y de la hija, cuestionando desde ambas perspectivas una visión idealizada de dicho vínculo.

Oh, Mother, Who Art Thou? : The Heart of Maternal Darkness in the Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield

Our culture assumes: No love is as great as that of a mother for her child. Motherhood has been perpetually associated with self-effacement and self-abnegation. Adrienne Rich while making a distinction between the actual lived experience of a mother and the institution of motherhood has argued that motherhood is a cultural construct and a far cry from the real experience of mothering. This article traces and examines representations of motherhood in the select short stories of Katherine Mansfield, in the light of Adrienne Rich’s theories in Of Woman Born. Much like Adrienne Rich, Mansfield discredits the traditional assumption that to be a mother is an essential pre-requisite to be a ‘real woman’. Mansfield’s women characters unleash a plurality of voices that aid the readers at viewing maternity as an ambiguous experience. Instead of romanticizing and idealizing the mother-daughter relationship, she offers a problematic connection between both the figures, often pitting them as rivals against each other. Her women characters progressively revolt from within the four walls of the household by their intermittent display of anger and deliberate attempts at failing to conform to the monolithic ideals of femininity.