Full Description
This book explores constructions of the "good mother" within diverse nations and nationalisms, focusing on three contexts grappling with distinct forms of "demographic anxiety." Inspired by Sara Farris' inquiry into femonationalism and utilizing "maternalism" and "politics of care" as critical theoretical instruments, the book analyses the evolving political and social expectations imposed upon mothers in Lithuania, migrant mothers, including postsocialist migrant mothers from Central Asia and Caucasus in Sweden, and women in the militarizing authoritarian Russian state's construction of maternity within its "traditional values" agenda. It also probes both how "good motherhood" is enacted and contested by individual mothers, as well as how it is mobilized in resisting conservative, ethnonationalist tendencies and militarism (in the case of Russia). The book's chapters illuminate the roles of political and social actors engaged with renegotiating materialist politics—such as grassroots birth activist movements and maternalist social policy campaigns—as well as those defying militarism.
Contents
About the Authors
List of Abbreviations
List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. "Good Motherhood" in a Time of "Demographic Anxieties" and Femonationalisms. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Mothers We Care For and Mothers We Care About: Redefining "Good Motherhood" through Maternal Activism in Contemporary Lithuania
Chapter 3. "Preservation of the Nation Needs Women's Care": Authoritarianism, "Demographic Anxiety," and Mediated Religion in the Russian Federation
Chapter 4. What Is the "Problem" with Migrant Mothers in Sweden? Politicians' Femonationalist Narratives on Migrant Mothers and Mothering
Chapter 5. Being a "Good Mother": Navigating "National" Motherhood Ideals and Realities among Post-Socialist (Muslim) Migrant Mothers
Chapter 6. Femonationalism, Militarism, and Resistances to Authoritarian "Good Motherhood" in Russia
Afterword
Bibliography
Appendices
Index
