Demeter Press is seeking submissions for an edited collection – Mothers and Motherhood in the Spanish-Speaking World – to be edited by Gisela Norat, Marina Bettaglio and Cándida Elizabeth Vivero Marín and published in 2015.
Traditional representations of motherhood in Spanish-speaking countries have favoured the image of the selfless, abnegated mother, totally devoted to her children. As a woman whose entire life was at the service of others, she was supposed to find fulfillment in caring for and supporting her family. Modelled after the Virgin Mary, this idealized maternal role dominated, with regional differences, the Spanish and Latin American imaginary for centuries. Marianismo, the cultural expression of this ideological position, demonstrates the pervasiveness of the Marian cult in Latin America, where the dichotomy Virgin/Whore described by Octavio Paz has played a key role in imposing normative maternal values.
Nonetheless, during the last two decades, new maternal configurations have emerged in literature, comics, cinema, music and art. This collection seeks to examine counter-hegemonic discourses that stand in stark or seeming opposition to traditional representations. The editors seek article-length contributions from scholars from a variety of disciplines, including literature, cinema, music and popular culture in general.
Articles may examine, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Non-traditional mothers, step-mothers, lesbian mothers, immigrant mothers, minority mothers, professional mothers, writing mothers, artist mothers, new stay-at-home mothers, supermommies, sexually desiring mothers, celebrity mothers, yummy mommies/mummies, deviant mothers, perverse mothers, criminal mothers, drug-addicted mothers or incarcerated mothers.
Submit abstracts of 250 words and include a 50-word bio and citizenship by the Feb. 1 deadline to: Marina Bettaglio at bettagli@uvic.ca and Cándida Elizabeth Vivero Marín at elizabeth_vivero@hotmail.com.
For more information, visit the Demeter Press website.