Mothers and Daughters: Connection, Empowerment, and Transformation

by Andrea O'Reilly (Editor), Sharon Abbey (Editor), Christina Baker (Contribution by), Janet Burstein (Contribution by), Paula Caplan (Contribution by)

Overview

In 1976, Adrienne Rich wrote in Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution that “the cathexis between mother and daughter—essential, distorted, misused—is the great unwritten story.” In the quarter century since Rich wrote those words, the topic of mothers and daughters has emerged as a salient issue in feminist scholarship.
Using women’s writing, film, feminist theory, and personal experience, contributors to Mothers and Daughters explore how the mother/daughter relationship is represented and experienced as a site of empowerment. This volume will offer readers an important and welcome chapter in the story of the complex relationship that is a part of nearly every woman’s life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847694860
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/05/2000
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.26(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Andrea O'Reilly is assistant professor in the School of Women's Studies at York University. Sharon Abbey is assistant professor of education at Brock University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Mothers Telling Their Stories Chapter 3 Mothers at Work: Representations of Maternal Practice in Literature Chapter 4 Restorying Jewish Mothers Chapter 5 Never One Without the Other: Empowering Readings of the Mother Daughter Relationship in Contemporary Spain Chapter 6 Journeying Back to Mother: Pilgrimages of Maternal Redemption in the Fiction of Michele Roberts Part 7 Dismantling Patriarchal Motherhood Chapter 8 Bitches with Broomsticks: The Bad Mother in American Maternity Poetry Chapter 9 Rewriting Cinderella: Envisioning the Empowering Mother Daughter Romance Chapter 10 Heterosexual and Lesbian Mothers Challenging "Feminine" and "Masculine" Concepts of Mothering Chapter 11 The Mammy and the Mummy: Cultural Imaginary and Interracial Coalition Part 12 Empowering Daughters Chapter 13 "I Come From a Long Line of Uppity Irate Black Women": African-American Feminist Thought on Motherhood, the Motherline, and the Mother-Daughter Relationship Chapter 14 Mothers as Moral Educators: Teaching Language and Nurturing Souls Chapter 15 The Global Self-Esteem of an African-American Adolescent Female and Her Relationship with Her Mother Chapter 16 Educated Mothers as a Tool for Change: Possibilities and Constraints Chapter 17 Telling Our Stories: Feminist Mothers and Daughters Chapter 18 Biting the Hand that Feeds You: Feminism as the "Bad Mother" Part 19 Connecting/Disrupting the Motherline Chapter 20 Mother of Mothers, Daughter of Daughters: Reflectons on the Motherline Chapter 21 Don't Blame Mother: Then and Now Chapter 22 Motherline Connections Across Cultures and Generations Chapter 23 Constantly Negotiating: Between My Mother and My Daughter Chapter 24 Revisioning the Maternal Body: Loving in Difference in Ngozi Onwurah's FilmThe Body Beautiful

Editorial Reviews

...provocative volume. ...worthy of classroom interrogation. Offers nuanced and rich ways of considering the complexities of the mother-child relationship. The diversity and inclusivity that punctuate the book offer necessary depth and varying perspectives to classes and courses that privilege gender, class, race, ethnicity, and sexuality.

Nwsa Journal

...provocative volume. ...worthy of classroom interrogation. Offers nuanced and rich ways of considering the complexities of the mother-child relationship. The diversity and inclusivity that punctuate the book offer necessary depth and varying perspectives to classes and courses that privilege gender, class, race, ethnicity, and sexuality.

Feminist Formations

I was excited to find a collection in which authors from various cultures go beyond praise and blame to illuminate the positive potential of the mother-daughter connection in the face of cultural impediments. The variety of formats and perspectives add further depth and new insights.

Miriam M. Johnson

A splendid collection that resoundingly confirms the centrality of mother-daughter relationships to women’s well-being and feminist politics. Recognizing the perspectives of adult women as well as girls, the editors are committed to strengthening sturdy reliable connections between mothers and daughters without denying the forces that drive them apart. Offering a rich array of stories from different social classes, ethnicities, races, religions, sexualities, and nations, Mothers and Daughters is a welcome addition to ongoing feminist revisions of an intimate yet politically resonant relationship.

Sara Ruddick