Interdisciplinary and intersectional in emphasis, the Routledge Companion to Motherhood brings together essays on current intellectual themes, issues, and debates, while also creating a foundation for future scholarship and study as the field of Motherhood Studies continues to develop globally.

This Routledge Companion is the first extensive collection on the wide-ranging topics, themes, issues, and debates that ground the intellectual work being done on motherhood. Global in scope and including a range of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, literature, communication studies, sociology, women's and gender studies, history, and economics, this volume introduces the foundational topics and ideas in motherhood, delineates the diversity and complexity of mothering, and also stimulates dialogue among scholars and students approaching from divergent backgrounds and intellectual perspectives.

This will become a foundational text for academics in Women's and Gender Studies and interdisciplinary researchers interested in this important, complex and rapidly growing topic. Scholars of psychology, sociology or public policy, and activists in both university and workplace settings interested in motherhood and mothering will find it an invaluable guide.

About the Author

Lynn O'Brien Hallstein, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and an Affiliated Faculty of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Boston University. She is the author/(co)editor of five books, including Bikini-Ready Moms: Celebrity Profiles, Motherhood, and the Body, which won the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender's 2016 Outstanding Book Award, and has published in variety of feminist and communication journals.

Andrea O'Reilly, PhD, is Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at York University. O'Reilly is founder and director of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative, and founder and publisher of Demeter Press. She is the editor/author of 22 books including Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, and Practice (2016).

Melinda Vandenbeld Giles is a lecturer in Anthropology and English at Lakehead University (Orillia). Her research focuses on neoliberalism, public policy and homelessness (particularly for mothers) in Ontario. Melinda's publications include her Demeter Press edited volume Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism, her co-edited volume The Routledge Companion to Motherhood, and her Inanna feminist novel Clara Awake. Melinda's work also appears in many Demeter Press edited collections, JMI (Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement) and Development (Journal of the Society for International Development).

Reviews

"This book is indeed a companion, a wise and wide-ranging guide for anyone who wants to spend time exploring the world of contemporary motherhood studies. Across topics and disciplines, it accompanies the reader to the most engaging sites in the field."

-- Joan B. Wolf, Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, Texas A&M University, and author of Is Breast Best? Taking on the Breastfeeding Experts and the New High Stakes of Motherhood.

"This is an anthology whose time has come! The editors have garnered an extraordinary number of international scholars to discuss motherhood from a broad range of perspectives, more than one might ever have thought possible. Adrienne Rich's pioneering distinction between motherhood as institution and ideology versus motherhood as experience and identity structures the volume's chapters on diverse mothering/motherhood concerns across the globe. The volume will guide Motherhood Studies for years to come."

-- E. Ann Kaplan, Distinguished Professor of English and Women's Gender, and Sexuality, Studies, Stony Brook University

Book Information
ISBN 9781032085593
Author Lynn O'Brien Hallstein
Format Paperback
Page Count 546
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g