ABSTRACT
In the forty plus years since the publication of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, motherhood has become a robust topic of scholarly inquiry. In 2006, I coined the term “motherhood studies” to acknowledge and demarcate this new scholarship on motherhood as a legitimate and autonomous discipline – one grounded in and sustained by a distinct tradition of maternal theory. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the field of maternal theory within the larger discipline of motherhood studies. Maternal theory, drawing upon Adrienne Rich’s distinction between motherhood and mothering is principally organized by two standpoints: motherhood as institution and ideology, and mothering as experience and identity. The background section of the chapter examines motherhood as institution and ideology and introduces three central theoretical concepts of motherhood studies, ones that have informed our understanding of patriarchal motherhood and shaped the way motherhood researchers do motherhood studies. They include the theoretical frameworks of motherhood versus mothering and that of maternal thinking and practice, as well as the expansive theoretical concept of intensive mothering. The challenges and possibilities section explores mothering as experience to consider how patriarchal motherhood is resisted and redefined through empowered maternal practices and identities. The chapter concludes with directions for future research.
