Description
Book SynopsisInspired by those who mothered before and through the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a book about, for, and with those who live different embodiments of academic mothering—mothers, othermothers, academic mothers, and mothering academics. In this book, mothering is defined broadly, encompassing those who are biologically or legally mothers with children; those who are “not-mother” but who nonetheless understand and practice mothering; those who do identify as mothers but not as women; and all those who take on mothering roles in academia and beyond. Through poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, image and text, the authors in this edited book creatively explore academic mothering through their unique lived experiences, illuminating three ideas that comprise the three sections of this book: mothering as practice, mothering in precarity, and mothering as relational. Through considering—and in many cases, writing about and through—their own mothering practices, this diverse collection of authors critique the systemic failures of academia in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, fabulating new possibilities that envision a future in which mothering is valued and supported in (and by) higher education.
Table of ContentsForeword: Of the Passing of COVID: A Motherscholar’s Lamentation Isn’t Sad Cheryl E. Matias List of Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction Kelly W. Guyotte, Stephanie Anne Shelton, Shelly Melchior and Carlson H. Coogler PART 1: Mothering as Practice 1 Mothering in the Dirt: Kenning Self and Kin Carlson H. Coogler 2 The Other Mothers: No, Not the Ugly Stepmothers or the Fairy Godmothers…the Teacher Mothers Stephanie Anne Shelton and Tamara Brooks 3 Sources of Hope into, through & beyond Academic Mothering during the Pandemic Melisa (Misha) Cahnmann-Taylor 4 A Graphic Representation of Parenting in the Pandemic: Borders, Binaries, and Boundaries Kate E. Kedley PART 2: Mothering in Precarity 5 Rejecting Good Mother: Becoming Otherwise in Precarity Tynetta Jenkins, Erica Warren, Susan Ophelia Cannon and Elaine Thurmond 6 “I’m Not Your Superwoman”: An Exploration of the Strong Black Woman Trope and How It Affected My Doctoral Journey A. C. Johnson 7 The Miscarrying Mother Kelsey H. Guy 8 Compelled to Care: Academic Work in a Mother-Fucking Dystopian Hellscape Mandie Bevels Dunn, Jennifer R. Wolgemuth and Lodi Lipien PART 3: Mothering as Relational 9 Gifts and Grief: Poetic Ruminations on Academic Mothering during the COVID-19 Pandemic (and Beyond) Kelly W. Guyotte 10 Queer Mothering in Academia as Pandemic Preparation: A Dialogue between QueerMotherScholarFriends Jill Hermann-Wilmarth and Caitlin L. Ryan 11 Mothering and Working across Difference: Intergenerational Conversations on Living with Uncertainty Daniela Gachago and Mo Gachago 12 And These Things Are Good Shelly Melchior Epilogue Kerry Crawford and Leah Windsor Index
