The Motherhood Initiative for Research & Community Involvement (MIRCI) is calling for papers for an upcoming one-day symposium – Demonizing Mothers/Demonized Motherhoods: Oppression and Resistance.
The conference will take place October 5, from 8:30am to 10pm at 323 Richmond Street E., Toronto.
MIRCI welcomes submissions from scholars, students, activists, community workers, bloggers, mothers and others who research in this area. It is open to a variety of submissions, including academic papers from all disciplines and creative submission, such as poetry, literature, visual and performance art. The symposium will explore how mother-shame and mother-blame are represented in popular culture, social media, the arts, mainstream journalism, academia, public policy, as well as how it impacts lived maternal experience.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
Representations and experiences of mother-shame and mother-blame in relation to racialization, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, religious prejudice, ageism, sizeism, healthism, ableism, classism, citizenship; also in relation to single motherhood, polyamorous families, infertility, adoption, child-free lifestyles, "young" mothers and "older" mothers, "working" mothers and "stay-at-home" mothers; normative discourses of “good” motherhood and regulation/surveillance/judgment of mothers; “bad” and “good” mother myths; maternal resistances to mother blame/shame via motherhood activism, social media, feminist/empowered mothering, motherhood scholarship.
If you are interested in being considered as a presenter, send a 250-word abstract and a 50-word bio by Aug. 15 to aoreilly@yorku.ca.
Confirmed keynotes speakers will include:
- Professor Andrea O'Reilly of York University’s School of Women's Studies and founder/director of Motherhood Initiative/Mother Outlaws;
- Kerry Fast, independent editor, writer, researcher, and co-editor of Mothering Mennonite;
- Gordana Eljdupovic, editor, Incarcerated Mothers: Oppression and Resistance;
- Rebecca Bromwich, PhD student at Carleton University’s Department of Legal Studies and a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law; and
- Kirstin S. Dane, Wood Turtle blogger.