*Call for Chapters – edited volume*

**

*Editors Susan Liddy and Deirdre Flynn*

/Representing Mothers and Motherhood on Screen/

This international collection will explore on-screen representations of
mothers and motherhood. The last few years has seen a proliferation of
films and series about mothers and motherhood, in film, television and
streaming platforms. Traditionally, dramatic representations of mothers
and mothering supported the ideology of the ‘good’, grounded,
child-centred mother.  But recent depictions suggest the cultural ideal
of ‘the good mother’ is being contested. Many productions offer a more
critical engagement with maternal characters and narratives than we have
previously seen on our screens in work like /Pieces of Her, Otherhood,
Maid, My Brilliant Friend, The Lost Daughter, False Positive, Herself,
and Parallel Mothers /to name just a few.

Maternal realities and practices have changed over time, for example:
mothers with babies and young children often remain in employment; women
can be single mothers by choice; they can become mothers in their teens
or in their late 30s, 40s and beyond, sometimes with assisted
reproductive technologies; they can be adoptive mothers or become
mothers through surrogacy and so on. More women are also speaking about
the decision to be childless by choice. Disparities remain and black
women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause
than white women in the US. The global lockdowns drew attention to often
exploitative surrogacy industries in the developing world, as well as
the dipropionate burden of care in many households. It may be that the
disruption of Covid 19 and its impact on mothers and mothering has also
fed, directly or indirectly, into screen narratives.

We invite you, where possible, to submit chapters that engage with
issues of intersectionality and mothering including gender, race,
ethnicity, disability, class, sexuality and age.

For this volume topics might include, but are by no means confined to:

   * ‘Good’ mothers and ‘bad’ mothers
   * Motherhood and loss, sadness or regret
   * Genre and motherhood
   * LGTBQ+ mothers
   * Motherhood and race/class/ ethnicity etc.
   * Motherhood and age
   * Women who yearn for, or alternatively reject, motherhood
   * Motherhood in migrant or nomadic communities

It is anticipated that this book will make a valuable contribution to
international debates on mothers and motherhood and will complement
publications that focus on the screen industries such as /Media Work,
Mothers and Motherhood: Negotiating the International Audiovisual
Industry/ (Liddy & O Brien 2021) and /Single Lives: Modern Women in
Literature, Culture, and Film/ (Fama & Lagerwey 2022). This collection
will facilitate scholars, students, activists, programme makers and
practitioners in identifying and understanding changing representations
of mothers across the globe.

**

*Abstract submission deadline: *Please submit a detailed abstract of 400
words and a short bio (150 words) by June 25, 2022. Please sent to both
editors - [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> <mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> and
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> <mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>

*Notification of Abstract acceptance: *26 July, 2022.

*Estimated timeframe for completed first draft: *The estimated timeframe
for the completed first draft of 6,500 words is March 20, 2023.

**

*We have received a strong expression of interest from Routledge who are
awaiting the submission of a full proposal. *

Dr. Susan Liddy

Department Media and Communication Studies

MIC

University of Limerick

South Circular Road

Limerick

Ireland

Signature pub 2021