Motherhood has been widely depicted in literature, theater, film, visual art and music, and critically examined in psychoanalysis, social theory and cultural criticism. Adrienne Rich distinguishes between the patriarchal institution of motherhood and the women-centered experience of mothering. Jessica Benjamin reconsiders the mother’s position within the bourgeois family, arguing that she plays a constitutive role in reproducing or transforming authoritarian social structures. Nancy Chodorow argues that the gendered division of labor in mothering reproduces itself across generations by shaping girls and boys into different capacities for relationality. Sara Ruddick proposes "maternal thinking" as a distinct practice-based mode of cognition and ethics arising from the daily work of preserving and nurturing children, and Patricia Hill Collins introduces the concept of "othermothers" to describe community-based mothering in Black communities as a site of resistance to controlling images of motherhood imposed by dominant culture.

Building on these interventions, this panel foregrounds motherhood as a political role. 

We ask: What constitutes the political role of a mother? Is motherhood bound to the familial context, or can it also be performed outside of it by other members of society? Is motherhood granted through childbirth, or can it be bestowed by external figures or attained through specific acts or circumstances? What is the state’s investment in motherhood, and how is motherhood essential to the political organization of the state? How does motherhood support or contest patriarchy? Is motherhood a function, a characteristic, a proper name, or an adjective?

In this seminar, we invite papers that investigate representations of motherhood as a social, political, ethical, and aesthetic position across various media. Contributions may investigate who assumes this role, how it is performed/enacted, and to what ends. We also welcome critical examinations of motherhood from the perspective of other family members, communities, or society. 

Paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Motherhood as a Political Role
• Familial and Social Roles and Conventions
• The Family as Social and Political Order
• Motherhood and the State
• Non-Biological Motherhood
• Transgenerational Motherhood
• Disruptions of Motherhood
• Inheritance and Intergenerational Memory
• Birth, Care, and Reproduction
• Motherhood and the Public Sphere
• Performing Motherhood
• Representations of Motherhood in Literature, Film, Theater, Art, and Music

If you have any questions, please contact Elinore Darzi ([email protected]) or Leonie Ettinger ([email protected]).