Australian Mothering: Historical and Sociological Perspectives [Hardcover]

This collection defines the field of maternal studies in Australia for the first time. Leading motherhood researchers explore how mothering has evolved across Australian history as well as the joys and challenges of being a mother today. The contributors cover pregnancy, birth, relationships, childcare, domestic violence, time use, work, welfare, policy and psychology, from a diverse range of maternal perspectives. Utilising a matricentric feminist framework, Australian Mothering foregrounds the experiences, emotions and perspectives of mothers to better understand how Australian motherhood has developed historically and contemporaneously. Drawing upon their combined sociological and historical expertise, Bueskens and Pascoe Leahy have carefully curated a collection that presents compelling research on past and present perspectives on maternity in Australia, which will be relevant to researchers, advocates and policy makers interested in the changing role of mothers in Australian society.

1. Defining maternal studies in Australia: Historical and contemporary perspectives on mothers, mothering and motherhood; Petra Bueskens and Carla Pascoe Leahy.- Part I: Constructing mothers as citizens, workers and wives.- 2. State socialism for Australian mothers: Andrew Fishers radical maternalism in its international and local contexts [reprint]; Marilyn Lake.- 3. Mothering reshaped: fertility decline, the selfishness of women and the smaller family; Alison MacKinnon.- 4. Imagined, intended, forsaken: the status of the mother in a century of Australian adoption advertisements; Shurlee Swain.- 5. What Mary Bennett knew  the whispering in her heart; Anne Manne.- Part II: Remembering families: mothers, fathers and children.- 6. Mothers-in-waiting: maternographies of pregnl#&