Drawing on Andrea O’Reilly’s and Barbara Katz Rothman’s notions of patriarchal motherhood, the Museum of Motherhood asks, what factors, past and present, inform our new ways of understanding motherhood, fatherhood, and notions of family? The conference organizers encourage submissions that provide critical insights into mothering, fathering, and family issues; that draw direct links between theories and/or research findings; or that offer practical approaches to issues facing contemporary mothers and families. Following in the footsteps of both O’Reilly and Rothman, the overarching goal of this conference is to provide an environment to explore new ideas and approaches for tackling issues that concern mothers as well as important others who fill a care giving role in the family.

 

Here, examples of possible topics include but are not limited to: feminist mothering à la O’Reilly, including fathering and re-thinking masculinity and queering motherhood; the shaping of mothering by patriarchy, technology, and capitalism à la Rothman; the impacts of race, class, and gender on mothering ideology; adoptive mothers; teenage pregnancies and early motherhood; the “stay-at-home-mom” experience; and mother art and maternal metaphors.

 

We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, community agencies, service providers, journalists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Cross-cultural, historical, and comparative work is encouraged. We also encourage a variety of types of submissions including individual academic papers from all disciplines, proposals for panels, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, film, music, audio, and other alternative formats.

 

Submissions must include a title and a maximum 250-word abstract for individual papers, panels, and other submission types (e.g. performance, media, music). Panel submissions must include short abstracts (50-100 word) for each individual paper that will be included in the panel. Please submit ONE presentation proposal only.

 

All submissions will be peer reviewed. Individual presenters, panelists, and individuals submitting alternative presentation proposals (e.g. performance, media, music) will be notified of acceptance by December 10, 2013. Following the conference, a selection of papers will be considered for a published, edited collection.