Description:
This book explores cultural representations of motherhood in Europe and considers how they affect how motherhood is negotiated as both institution and lived experience. It focuses on literature, and also includes essays on representations in philosophy, art, social policy, TV, and film. It expands hegemonic notions of motherhood, analyzing shifting conceptions of maternal subjectivity and embodiment, exploring contexts in which mothering takes place, and asking what it means to be a 'mother' in Europe today. It will be of interest to those working in gender, women's, and feminist studies, literary and cultural studies, criminology, politics, medical ethics, midwifery, and related fields.