AAA Representing Mothers and Motherhood on Screen (26.06.2022)

Call for Chapters – edited volume

Editors Susan Liddy and Deirdre Flynn

Representing Mothers and Motherhood on Screen

This international collection will explore on-screen representations of mothers and motherhood. The last few years has seen a proliferation of films and series about mothers and motherhood, in film, television and streaming platforms. Traditionally, dramatic representations of mothers and mothering supported the ideology of the ‘good’, grounded, child-centred mother.  But recent depictions suggest the cultural ideal of ‘the good mother’ is being contested. Many productions offer a more critical engagement with maternal characters and narratives than we have previously seen on our screens in work like Pieces of Her, Otherhood, Maid, My Brilliant Friend, The Lost Daughter, False Positive, Herself, and Parallel Mothers to name just a few.

Maternal realities and practices have changed over time, for example: mothers with babies and young children often remain in employment; women can be single mothers by choice; they can become mothers in their teens or in their late 30s, 40s and beyond, sometimes with assisted reproductive technologies; they can be adoptive mothers or become mothers through surrogacy and so on. More women are also speaking about the decision to be childless by choice. Disparities remain and black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than white women in the US. The global lockdowns drew attention to often exploitative surrogacy industries in the developing world, as well as the dipropionate burden of care in many households. It may be that the disruption of Covid 19 and its impact on mothers and mothering has also fed, directly or indirectly, into screen narratives.

We invite you, where possible, to submit chapters that engage with issues of intersectionality and mothering including gender, race, ethnicity, disability, class, sexuality and age.

For this volume topics might include, but are by no means confined to:

• ‘Good’ mothers and ‘bad’ mothers
• Motherhood and loss, sadness or regret
• Genre and motherhood
• LGTBQ+ mothers
• Motherhood and race/class/ ethnicity etc.
• Motherhood and age
• Women who yearn for, or alternatively reject, motherhood
• Motherhood in migrant or nomadic communities

It is anticipated that this book will make a valuable contribution to international debates on mothers and motherhood and will complement publications that focus on the screen industries such as Media Work, Mothers and Motherhood: Negotiating the International Audiovisual Industry (Liddy & O Brien 2021) and Single Lives: Modern Women in Literature, Culture, and Film (Fama & Lagerwey 2022). This collection will facilitate scholars, students, activists, programme makers and practitioners in identifying and understanding changing representations of mothers across the globe.

Abstract submission deadline: Please submit a detailed abstract of 400 words and a short bio (150 words) by June 25, 2022. Please sent to both editors –  Susan.liddy@mic.ul.ie and Deirdre.Flynn@mic.ul.ie 

Notification of Abstract acceptance: 26 July, 2022.

Estimated timeframe for completed first draft: The estimated timeframe for the completed first draft of 6,500 words is March 20, 2023.

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