The Mother Wave

Theorizing, Enacting, and Representing Matricentric Feminism

Andrea O'Reilly, Fiona Joy Green

• Publisher: Demeter Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781772585186
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Feminism & Feminist Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

Matricentric feminism seeks to make motherhood the business of feminism by positioning mothers' needs and concerns as the starting point for a theory and politic on and for the empowerment of women as mothers. Based on the conviction that mothering is a verb, it understands that becoming and being a mother is not limited to biological mothers or cisgender women but rather to anyone who does the work of mothering as a central part of their life. The Mother Wave, the first-ever book on the topic, compellingly explores how mothers need a matricentric mode of feminism organized from and for their particular identity and work as mothers, and because mothers remain disempowered despite sixty years of feminism. The anthology makes visible the power of matricentric feminism as it is theorized, enacted, and represented to realize and achieve the subversive potential of mothers and their contributions to feminist theory and activism. Contributors share the impact and influence of matricentric feminism on families and children, culture, art/literature, education, public policy, social media, and workplace practices through personal reflections, scholarly essays, memoir, creative non-fiction, poetry, and photography. The mother wave of matricentric feminism invites conversations with others and offers a praxis of feminism that aims to coexist, overlap, and intersect with others.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Section I.
• 1. This Love Is Revolutionary: Mothering as Resistance to Oppressive Systems
• 2. The Case for Radical Inclusion in Mothering Studies: Matricentric Feminism Can and Should Take on Genderism
• 3. The Mother Wave and the Italian Matricentric River Delta
• 4. Centring the voices of Caribbean Mothers: Making the Case for a Matricentric Feminist Theorizing
• 5. Out of Praxis, Theory: Being and Becoming a Matricentric Feminist
• 6. Mother’s Speaking: Towards An Ethics of Maternal Monstrosity
• 7. Choosing Matricentric Feminism in an Era of Choice Feminism: A Way Forward
• Section II.
• 8. The Theory and Praxis of Matricentric Feminism in the Lives of Motherhood Studies Certification Course Participants
• 9. I Am Becoming My Mother: Conjuring Black Motherhood on Our Own Terms
• 10. Black Mothers’ Responses to Systems of Oppression: Navigating Work, Family, and Self-Actualization
• 11. Using Matricentric Feminist Research to Create Space for Mothers on Campus
• 12. Without a Village: Motherhood, Childcare, and COVID-19: A Research Journey
• Section III.
• 13. Towards a Literary Theory and Criticism of Matricritics: “Begin with the Mother in Her Own Right” to Deliver “New Meanings of Motherhood” and “Transform Maternal Thinking Itself”
• 14. Swimming against Plato: Rachel Cusk’s Outline
• 15. Matricentric Feminism and Nonnormative Migrant Mothering in Recent Contemporary Fiction from Spain and the United States
• 16. Matricentric Art: A Philosophy of Maternal Work through the Act of Creativity
• 17. Commoning the Maternal: Matricentric Feminism and the Motherworks Festival
• 18. The Last American Housewife
• 19. Riding the Wave Rather than Waving Off: The Academic Study of Religions and Matricentric Feminism
• Notes on Contributors
• Deepest appreciation to Demeter’s monthly Donors