This book is a welcome and noteworthy addition to the field of mothering, motherhood, and gender studies. Methodically and with precision, each chapter provides an introduction, discussion on research, analysis of the findings, exploration of the participants’ narratives, and conclusion.  The accessible studies strike a solid balance on the interpersonal and multidimensional models of academic mothers and the most insightful components are the voices of the interviewees, especially as they highlight the diverse roles of academic mothers in the selected countries.  As the authors’ poignantly posit, these women “express concerns about their family, social and labour routines, and their roles as mother, academic professional and a woman.”  

Each chapter also has a diverse range of interviewees and the authors skilfully weave the respondents’ compelling stories into the framework of their analysis. The authors note that “the women speak of the pride they take in being academics. At the same time, they are plagued by guilt for not being full-time mothers, for enjoying their work, for not being available to their children all the time and for making choices that don’t always put their children first. They frequently do not think of themselves as scholars and suggest that their scholarly success is accidental, unplanned and incidental.” In such, the authors draw on these women’s open and candid reflections to reveal their contesting joys and challenges.  In addressing the power relationships between motherhood, the family, and the university in which academic mothers work, the authors link the positive and negative realities and perceptions that affect academic mothers. After all, as the authors’ state, “some experiences may be simultaneously both empowering and disempowering.”  The end result is an astute investigation of the multiple worlds of academic mothers.  

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
VENITHA PILLAY is at the University of South Africa. Her research is on women in higher education.

NISHI MITRA VOM BERG is a social-cultural anthropologist and a professor in The Advanced Centre for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

DEEVIA BHANA is the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation South African, Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality.

CARMEN LUCIA GUIMARAES DE MATTOS is an Associate Professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).

PAULA ALMEIDA DE CASTRO is a Professor of Education Teacher Training Basic State University of Paraiba Education Center (UEPB).

CATEGORY
Sociology, Women’s Studies    

PUBLICATION YEAR
2017

PAGE COUNT
196 Pages