Presentations by Streams

The panel is centered around ideas and practices of “good motherhood” expressed through political documents, media images and women’s stories. While historically maternity always was a part of cultural and national constructions, during last years the role of maternity seems to increase in the context of discussions on future of the nation, depopulation, patriotism and “traditional values”. The panel explores the constructions of motherhood in three different geographical, political and cultural contexts: social politics towards elderly women - mothers of several children - in Lithuania; promotion of “good motherhood” from the perspective of “traditional values” in Russia, and stories of migrant mothers from Central Asia and Caucasus about their experiences of being mothers in the context of growing (femo)nationalism in Sweden. Panel participants analyze both symbolic and embodied dimensions of the politics of motherhood on examples of the state pension for retired mothers (Lithuania) on the one hand and everyday practices of mothering while being migrants from post-Soviet countries (Sweden) on the other. The panel is a result of the ongoing research project “Maternity in the time of “traditional values” and femonationalism” (supported by the Baltic Sea Foundation, Sweden).