In Of Woman Born, Adrienne Rich famously made the distinction between the institution of patriarchal motherhood and the experience of motherhood. I’ve always wondered to what degree this distinction bears out in other countries and cultures. According to a new book, Motherhood in India: Glorification without Empowerment?, published by Routledge India and edited by Maithreyi Krishnaraj, India also suffers from a gap between the cultural glorification of mothers and the actual treatment of mothers. Many thanks to writer and Feminist Review blogger Mandy Van Deven, who just told me about it! Mandy wrote a great piece for The Women’s International Perspective (The WIP) in which she interviews Veena Poonancha, one of the book’s contributors. Read her article, “Parvati’s Burden: Scratching the Surface of Motherhood in India,” over at The WIP.
Speaking of motherhood: I’m heading out to the National Women’s Studies Association conference in Atlanta tomorrow, where I’ll be on a panel entitled “Globalizing Motherhood Studies” (and another one on “Feminist Publishing 2.0″)–and will be conference blogging (along with fellow Girl with Penner Alison Piepmeier) over at She Writes!
Comments
Kimberly Fujioka — November 27, 2009
When reading Mandy's piece on Motherhood in India, I was also thinking of Motherhood in Mexico. I am reading a book by Teresa Rodriguez "The Daughters of Juarez" which is a nonfiction book, full of excellent investigative reporting on the heinous murders of women and young females living in the Mexican border city of Juarez, since the NAFTA agreement.
I have been researching the women's and their mothers lives in this area. I will be writing up my research soon.
I'm a book reviewer and editor for an online media outlet.
Recently, like two days ago, the book was published, To Japan With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur (Things Asian Press), containing some of my essays on Japan. I lived in Japan for 6 years.