Mothering with a Difference: Concepts and Practices of Mothering in Contemporary Women's Writing in French
Lead Research Organisation:
University of London
Department Name: Inst of Modern Languages Research
Abstract
The changing face of the family and the changes in women's lives and expectations in the late 20th and early 21st century, in France as elsewhere, are having an impact on women as mot11ers. European and French legislation on part time work
, maternity leave and rights and the Frencll PaCS law covering same sex couples have done much for equal rights. Yet, as feminist analyses have shown, they tend to endorse rather than challenge conventional representations of women's role as mothers in society, and thus their effects are limited. Literary narratives offer alternative insights into how women themselves perceive mothering "'mothering' being a key term of analysis since it privileges women's own experiences as mothers over more conventional perceptions of 'motherhood'.
The aim of the research is to publish a monograph, which investigates how mothering is portrayed in French women-authored literature of the last 15 years an exciting body of world at the cutting edge of contemporary Frenc11 literature. Through close readings, this study explores the ways in which women's own narratives, fictional and autobiographical, express and define mothering in these changing times. Drawing on feminist debates and theory from an appropriate range of disciplines (sociology, psychoanalysis, anthropology, literary studies, trauma studies), it considers the extent to which the narratives chosen for analysis reinforce or challenge conventional concepts of mothering. Following an introductory chapter, which sets out the historical, theoretical and literary context for the study, the major themes raised by this body of work are explored through a series of chapter-by "chapter case studies. Ultimately, the research explores what implications these narratives have for our understandings of contemporary mothering. What do they tell us about women's desires, fears, fantasies and imaginative concepts of mothering? What can they tell us about the emerging trends and changing experiences of contemporary mothering in France?
This research project will produce the first published study to focus exclusively on narratives of mothering in recent French literature, and it will also offer in i depth analyses of a fascinating new generation of writers. It will contribute important new insights to French literary and cultural studies specifically and Feminist work more generally, and will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and scholars in French studies and gender studies in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
, maternity leave and rights and the Frencll PaCS law covering same sex couples have done much for equal rights. Yet, as feminist analyses have shown, they tend to endorse rather than challenge conventional representations of women's role as mothers in society, and thus their effects are limited. Literary narratives offer alternative insights into how women themselves perceive mothering "'mothering' being a key term of analysis since it privileges women's own experiences as mothers over more conventional perceptions of 'motherhood'.
The aim of the research is to publish a monograph, which investigates how mothering is portrayed in French women-authored literature of the last 15 years an exciting body of world at the cutting edge of contemporary Frenc11 literature. Through close readings, this study explores the ways in which women's own narratives, fictional and autobiographical, express and define mothering in these changing times. Drawing on feminist debates and theory from an appropriate range of disciplines (sociology, psychoanalysis, anthropology, literary studies, trauma studies), it considers the extent to which the narratives chosen for analysis reinforce or challenge conventional concepts of mothering. Following an introductory chapter, which sets out the historical, theoretical and literary context for the study, the major themes raised by this body of work are explored through a series of chapter-by "chapter case studies. Ultimately, the research explores what implications these narratives have for our understandings of contemporary mothering. What do they tell us about women's desires, fears, fantasies and imaginative concepts of mothering? What can they tell us about the emerging trends and changing experiences of contemporary mothering in France?
This research project will produce the first published study to focus exclusively on narratives of mothering in recent French literature, and it will also offer in i depth analyses of a fascinating new generation of writers. It will contribute important new insights to French literary and cultural studies specifically and Feminist work more generally, and will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and scholars in French studies and gender studies in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Gill Rye (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | 1. The study documents a turn to mothers as narrative subjects (rather than objects of others' narratives) in women's writing in France of the 1990s and 2000s. 2. It reveals the prevalence of loss in new narratives of mothering. 3. Maternal guilt is found to be on-going, and contributes to the norms by which mothers are judged, and judge themselves. 4. Maternal ambivalence, arising from the tensions between mothering and the needs and desires of the woman, is commonly experienced and ' |
| Exploitation Route | Literary narratives and representations only partially reflect reality; they also reflect on it, and they creatively and imaginatively express, explore and shape experience and emotions. The new narratives of mothering offer insights into the complexity of mothers' subjectivities and intimate experiences. As such, they have the potential to supplement existing sociological and psychological studies of mothering by offering another dimension of expression - that of literary motifs, images and oth |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy |
| Description | La prise de la parole de la mere in Contemporary Womens's Writing: Lesbian Mothering and the Family in France |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Approx 12 postgraduate students and 8 other academics attended the workshop. My paper stimulated questions and discussion afterwards. I was invited to present a similar paper at the Society of French Studies annual conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | La prise de la parole de la mere: Marie Ndiaye's La Sorciere (1996). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 35 people attended this conference. My paper generated questions and discussion afterwards, which signalled the originality of my thinking. I was invited to publish the paper but declined, since it forms part of a chapter of my 'Narratives of Mothering' book, reported under publications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006 |