Beyond Biology

Rhetorics of Motherhood in the 21st Century

Call for Papers

Introduction

Communication scholars and rhetoricians have worked in the past several decades to understand and expand how motherhood is rhetorically constructed. A rich space for feminist rhetorical inquiry, motherhood rhetorics construct, resist, judge, challenge, and perpetuate a wide variety of care-giving relationships. However, rhetorics of motherhood rarely move into spaces of mainstream rhetorical scholarship--they are published, discussed, and publicized in places reserved largely for women and feminist discourse--and in some cases, not taken seriously as scholarship at all. We seek to investigate the way that new rhetorics of mothering can expand the realm of maternal care-givers beyond the biological definitions of motherhood. We see this collection at the cutting-edge of rhetoric and feminism, and as uniquely relevant to current issues that impact opportunities for women, and are impacted by diversity largely rendered unseen in dominant discourses of mothering.

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, the need to think beyond biological primacy is a key component of the continued inquiry into mothering, parenting, and child-rearing. For this collection, we seek chapters that challenge the confines of biological parenting as heteronormative within the nuclear family structure. We seek work that challenges the scripts that privilege biological primacy and value mothering and parenting work beyond the social and cultural scripts that crowd out other kinds of parenting. We argue that the rhetorics that reinscribe and reify the importance of biology are a product of patriarchal culture which does not and cannot reflect real lived parenting experiences. Instead of framing mothering rhetorics according to these scripts, our collection will highlight parenting that moves beyond a patriarchal script that dictates motherhood as the ultimate accomplishment for people with a uterus. “Fulfillment” and “mothering” are terms that circulate each other but are also diametrically opposed. The rhetoric of mothering, particularly intensive mothering, would have parents believe that the biological mother is the only figure in a child’s life that can truly raise them well. Intensive mothering is implicated in social, cultural, economic, religious, and pseudo-scientific arguments that reinforce the notion of a woman “having it all” by creating her entire identity around motherhood. Having it all is framed as an individual venture, one which dictates that only white, heterosexual, middle- to upper-class women can be “good mothers”. We recognize and seek to interrogate the neoliberal intersections of economy, patriarchy, and motherhood. Instead of being fixed in place by the rhetorics of mothering, this collection will focus on parenting that challenges the script of the “good mother”, and can include but are not limited to:

  • Collective mothering
  • Othermothers
  • Aunties
  • Nannying
  • Surrogacy
  • Fostering
  • Adoption
  • Egg and sperm donation
  • Queer parenting
  • Stepparenting
  • Fertility and infertility
  • Race and nationality and parenting
  • Neurodiversity and parenting
  • Bodies (and ableism) and parenting
  • Mental illness and parenting
  • Fatherhood

A key aspect of this work is to amplify the intersections of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class--we seek chapters that interrogate racialized scripts of mothering, LGBTQIA+ parenting, parenting in poverty, as a refugee, as a survivor, and as a parent who simply does not fit dominant discursive constructs of motherhood.

Dynamic work is being done at these intersections, so the goal of our collection is to put these often diverse foci in one place to fill out a more complete picture of mothering in the 21st Century.

Guiding Questions

Authors are encouraged to consider but think beyond the following questions:

  • Who is a mother?
  • What does it mean to mother?
  • What are the rhetorics of mothering?
  • What is the role of feminism in mothering?
  • What is the role of biology in parenting?
  • What is the role of culture in parenting?
  • What are the public vs. private discourses of parenting?
  • How do technology, digital media, and social media impact parenting?
  • How do issues of economy and class impact parenting?
  • At what intersections do parenting, race, ethnicity, and nationality function?
  • How do sex and/or gender identity read across scripts of parenting?
  • In what ways do disability and ableism impact parenting in our larger culture?
  • How does neurodiversity and/or issues of mental health implicate parenting (either for the parents or for the children)?
  • How do the rhetorics of fatherhood impact the rhetorics of motherhood? And vice versa?
  • How does intensive mothering impact the socio-cultural understandings of mothering?
  • In what ways are non-biological mothering validated or invalidated?
  • How are non-biological caregivers categorized and why?

Formatting/Style Guidelines

  • Proposals and complete manuscripts should follow The Chicago Manual of Style, seventeenth edition, Author-Date style.
  • For examples and more information, please see: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
  • Chapter proposals should be 500 words.
  • Chapter proposals should describe the author's primary focus or claim, including a brief discussion of methodology and data sources, and situate the chapter within the existing literature.
  • Please include author(s') names, institutional affiliation(s), and contact information (email).
  • Please title the file that you send us as follows: YourLastNameBeyondBiology.doc. For example: ColeRenegarBeyondBiology.doc.

Deadlines

  • Submit your proposal to Valerie Renegar and Kirsti Cole by 15 June 2020.
  • You will receive notification of acceptance by 1 August 2020.
  • Complete chapters, author(s’) biographies, ORCID IDs, and mailing addresses will be due by 15 January 2020.