Mothering Mennonite

Buller Rachel Epp

• Publisher: Demeter Press
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781927335864
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Mothering Mennonite marks the first scholarly attempt to incorporate religious groundings in interpretations of motherhood. The essays included here broaden our understanding of maternal identity as something not only constructed within the family and by society at large, but also influenced significantly by historical traditions and contemporary belief systems of religious communities. A multidisciplinary compilation of essays, this volume joins narrative and scholarly voices to address both the roles of mothering in Mennonite contexts and the ways in which Mennonite mothering intersects with and is shaped by the world at large. Contributors address cultural constructions of motherhood within ethnoreligious Mennonite communities, examining mother-daughter relationships and intergenerational influences, analyzing visual and literary representations of Mennonite mothers, challenging cultural constructions and expectations of motherhood, and tracing the effects of specific religious and cultural contexts on mothering in North and South America.'

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• I. PICTURING MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS
• Picturing My Mother
• The Elusive Dancing Mother
• Milk
• Eking Out a Discursive Space
• II. MOTHERING ACROSS GENERATIONS
• A Selection from An Inheritance of Words, Unspoken
• I am from many places,
• Mimicking Maternal Gestures
• Who’s Cooking the Borscht?
• “Home” Schooling
• III. CHALLENGING MENNONITE MOTHERHOOD
• “Single Sisters” and Occupations
• Creative (M)othering
• (In)fertile Encounters
• IV. MOTHERING IN AND AROUND CULTURE(S)
• “Tirelessly Working to Dispense Her Own Wisdom”
• An Evangelical Reorientation
• Mothering, More with Less
• “I Always Played Restaurant”
• From Persecution to Hope
• Contributor Notes