Price: $34.95
Page Count: 276
Publication Date: June 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77258-198-0
Though the negative effects of social exclusion are well documented, there is a paucity of research on women’s experiences of social exclusion as they relate to mothering within the institution of motherhood. Social exclusion is a socially constructed concept; it refers to a multi-dimensional form of systematic discrimination driven by unequal power relationships. It is the denial of equal opportunities, resources, rights, goods, and services for some, by others, within economic, social, cultural, and political arenas. Carrying, birthing, and mothering children place women in a unique position to face social exclusion based on their role as mothers. Perhaps at no other time in our lives could we benefit more from feeling as though we are engaged in our community than when we enter into and are experiencing the patriarchal institution of motherhood. As the widely used proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child”, it also takes a village (of societal institutions) to support mothers.
This collection explores motherhood in the context of social exclusion. The book is divided into four parts, each exploring the topic from a different perspective: A Historical Look at Motherhood; Mothers and Crime; Disability, Care Work, and Motherhood; and Personal Narratives."This compilation provides an insightful new angle to the inherent experience of social exclusion by mothers. Understanding the ways in which motherhood can be associated with exclusion is crucial for mothers themselves, their social networks, mental health practitioners, child care professionals and policy makers."
--Dr. Verena Graupmann, Assciate Professor, Psychological Science, DePaul University
"This collection makes a significant contribution to the study of mothering that takes place in conditions of social exclusion. While there are many studies that address the issue from the perspective of women in general, this book is among the few that detail the effects on mothers of these conditions, and the chapters based on in-depth interviews, as well as the auto-ethnographic narratives are especially illuminating. The strength of the collection is that it really focuses attention on social and policy issues that need to change in order to alleviate some of the problems the mothers in the collection discuss. "
-- Dr. Tatjana Takševa, Associate Professor
Department of English Language and Literature
Women and Gender Studies Program
Saint Mary's University
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Christie Byvelds and Heather Jackson
A Historical Look at Motherhood
"It takes a village to support a mother"
Flavia Testa
As If She Weren't a Mother at All: Narratives of Exclusion of Miscarrying Mothers in the Nineteenth Century and Today
Katy Huie Harrison
Difficult Children, Blameable Mothers? A Historical Perspective
Clarissa Carden
Decentering Motherhood: Social Exclusion, Ecology, and Authority in Colonial Spanish America
María Piedad Quevedo Alvarado
Unwed Motherhood, Social Acceptability and Mother Loss: Becoming Respectable through Adoption
Karen March
Mothers and Criminalization
“Perfect mothers are a myth.”
Flavia Testa
Motherhood and Social Exclusion: Narratives of Women in Prison in Ireland
Christina Quinlan
Social Inclusion through Participatory Methods: Criminalized Mothers' Engagement in Research
Ashley Ward, Emily van der Meulen, and May Friedman
Motherhood Judged: Social Exclusion, Mothers and Prison
Lucy Baldwin
Disability, Care Work, and Motherhood
“Help is a good word. Hold my hand.”
Flavia Testa
The Trouble with Engineering Inclusion: Disabled Mothering at the limit of Enhancement Technology
Kelly Fritsch
Conceptualising the Construction of Motherhood and the Disabled Child
Karen J Williams & Duncan Murray
Learning with the Difference: The Experience and Identity of Asian New Immigrant Mothers with Autistic Children in Canada
Yidan Zhu and Romee Lee
Social Exclusion, Aging in Place and Daughters who “Mother” their Mothers
Krystal Kehoe MacLeod
Personal Narratives
"If we are all in the same boat how come we solo paddle?”
Flavia Testa
The Process of (un)Deservingness: Gestational Surrogacy & Mental Health
Nancy Sinclair
Multiple Jeopardies and Liminality in Low Income Mothering: Experiencing and Resisting Social Exclusion
Amber Gazso & Jason Webb
Abandon Assumptions
Rae Griffin-Carlson
Woman from Thessaloníki
Step of the Door
Donna J. Gelagotis Lee
Teen motherhood & social exclusion
Heather Jackson
Contributor Notes
Christie Byvelds is a mother and registered social worker. She is a sessional instructor with the School of Social Work at Carleton University, and she practices both clinically and as a private research consultant.
Heather Jackson, a former teen mom, is now a 30-something single mom of a teen. She is often mistaken as her daughter’s friend or sister! She is a former site producer of girl-mom.com. Currently, she works as a birth doula and an early childhood counsellor in Rhode Island. She published a chapter in The Bakken Goes Boom regarding the change of maternal health related to the oil boom in North Dakota (where she grew up!). In addition to this, she is also co-editor of Feminist Parenting and is currently co-editing Motherhood and Abortion anthologies through Demeter Press (http://demeterpress.org/). Her writing has also been published on thepushback.org, hipmama.com, girl-mom.com, muthamagazine.com, books, and zines. She loves bike riding, going to the beach, playing guitar, drums, and ukulele, going to shows, making zines (etsy shop: ramonegirl), and writing.
