In feminism, the institution of mothering/motherhood has been a highly contested area in how it relates to the oppression of women. As Adrienne Rich articulated in her classic 1976 book Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, although motherhood as an institution is a male-defined site of oppression, women's own experiences of mothering can nonetheless be a source of power. This volume examines four locations wherin motherhood is simultaneously experienced as a site of oppression and of power: emodiment, representation, practice, and separation.
Motherhood: Power and Oppression includes psychological, historical, sociological, literary, and cultural approaches to inquiry and a wide range of disciplinary perspectives — qualitative, quantitative, corporeal, legal, religious, fictional, mythological, dramatic and action research.
This rich collection not only covers a wide range of subject matter but also illustrates ways of doing feminist research and practice.
EMBODIMENT 2. The Kindest Cut? The Caesarean Section as Turning Point, Australia 1880-1900 Lisa Featherstone 3. Narrating Breasts: Constructions of Contemporary Motherhood(s) in Women’s Breastfeeding Stories Susanne Gannon and Babbette Muller-Rockstroh 4. Scandalous Practices and Political Performances: Breastfeeding in the City Alison Bartlett
REPRESENTATION 5. “Pax Materna” or Mothers at War with the Empire? Canadian and Australian Perspectives on the Motherhood Debate in the British Empire during the Great War Karin Ikas 6. Mothering and Stress Discourses: A Deconstruction of the Interrelationship of Discourses on Mothering and Stress Erika Horwitz and Bonitaq C. Long 7. A Lesser Woman? Fictional Representations of the Childless Woman Enza Gandolfo 8. (Mis)Conceptions: The Paradox of Maternal Power and Loss in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Paradise
Andrea O’Reilly 9. Human and Divine Mothers in Hinduism Tamara Ditrich
PRACTICES 10. Resistance Narratives from Mothers of Married Daughters in Singapore Hing Ai Yun 11. Survival Narratives of Ethiopian-Jewish Mothers and Daughters in Israel Ruby Newman 12. Down Under Power? Australian Mothering Experiences in the 1950s, 1960s Marie Porter 13. Mothers at Home: Oppressed or Oppressors or Victims of False Dichotomies? Elizabeth Reid Boyd 14. Mothers at the Margins: Singular Identities and Survival Patricia Short
SEPARATION 15. Naming Maternal Alienation Anne Morris 16. Women of Courage: The Non-Custodial Mother Julie Thacker 17. Abandoning Mothers and Their Children Anita Pavlovic, Audrey Mullender, and Rosemary Aris 18. When Eve left the Garden: A Modern Tale about Mothers Who Leave Their Families Petra Buskens 19. Conclusion: Reflections on Motherhood Patricia Short
Biography
Marie Porter is currently completing her PhD at the School of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Patricia Short is a lecturer in sociology in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland, Australia.
