Mothering queerly, queering motherhood : resisting monomaternalism in adoptive, lesbian, blended, and polygamous families / Shelley M. Park.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Park, Shelley M., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motherhood.

Lesbian mothers.

Adoptive parents.

Interracial adoption.

Families.

Queer theory.

LGBTQ+ co-mothers.

LGBTQ+ mothers.

LGBTQ+ families.

Polyamorous families.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Bridging the gap between feminist studies of motherhood and queer theory, Mothering Queerly, Queering Motherhood articulates a provocative philosophy of queer kinship that need not be rooted in lesbian or gay sexual identities. Working from an interdisciplinary framework that incorporates feminist philosophy and queer, psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, and postcolonial theories, Shelley M. Park offers a powerful critique of an ideology she terms monomaternalism. Despite widespread cultural insistence that every child should have one—and only one—"real" mother, many contemporary family constellations do not fit this mandate. Park highlights the negative consequences of this ideology and demonstrates how families created through open adoption, same-sex parenting, divorce, and plural marriage can be sites of resistance. Drawing from personal experiences as both an adoptive and a biological mother and juxtaposing these autobiographical reflections with critical readings of cultural texts representing multi-mother families, Park advocates a new understanding of postmodern families as potentially queer coalitional assemblages held together by a mixture of affection and critical reflection premised on difference.

Contents:

Querying a straight orientation: becoming a mother (twice, differently)

The adoptive maternal body: queering reproduction

Queer orphans and their neo-liberal saviors: racialized intimacy in adoption

Making room for two mothers: queering children's literature

Queer assemblages: the domestic geography of postmodern families

Control freaks and queer adolescents: there's no place like home

Queering familial solidarity: polymaternalism and polygamy.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438447186

1438447183

OCLC:

834604201