Becoming mother and father in late adoption: a case study

Adoption in Brazil has long been related to practices of not disclosing the child`s history and origins, which become a family secret. As a consequence, most couples who apply for adoption prefer newborns. Late adoption is still an uncommon practice and requires a `family project` which accepts a different family model, new meanings of motherhood and fatherhood, and different ways of building affectionate bonds. It is important to investigate how a man and a woman become parents under those circumstances. This study aimed to follow up the emergence of adoption, motherhood and fatherhood meanings, in the discursive practices involved in the construction of adoptive parenthood in the Brazilian setting. This paper presents important meanings regarding parenthood produced by a couple who adopted two sisters, aged 4 and 5 years. Analysis revealed that to better understand the late adoption process, the meanings that emerge in the discursive practices should be considered. Those meanings pervade and circumscribe the family relationships, influencing how the individuals constitute their roles in the family. It is through the analysis of this dialogical process of construction that it is possible to identify the challenges in late adoption and to unravel the process of constructing affectionate relationships.

Feminist Perspectives on Motherhood and Reproduction

Motherhood and reproduction have been at the core of the feminist discourse about women's rights ever since its onset. For the first and second feminist movements, the right to abortion and the public recognition of motherhood have been main issues in the discourse on reproduction. Since the last two dec- ades of the 20th century, the potentials of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have opened up new venues of feminist discourse.In this paper we sketch the main feminist lines of argumentation regarding motherhood and reproduction since the 1970s, and we identify specific shifts in their recurrent issues. We argue that an essential contribution of feminism to the understanding of motherhood as a structuring category has been its insis- tence on the distinction between biological and social motherhood. Feminist discourse shows how ART has further decomposed biological motherhood and has altered the meaning of motherhood and reproduction. Feminist analysis maintains that despite the rhetoric of choice surrounding ART, these technolo- gies have not increased women's reproductive freedom. The decomposition of biological motherhood, the medical, legal, and commercial development of re- production, and the change in the social perception of motherhood have rather established new forms of control over female reproduction.

A Return to Little Things: Stories on Motherhood and Mistakes

A Return to Little Things includes three nonfiction pieces that revolve around the mistakes made by mothers and daughters. The collection investigates the idea that our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made. The essays directly address three specific situations that touch on the themes of motherhood, choices, and the human inclination to recall them with bitterness, and offer proof that time often allows us to move forward to forgiveness. Using humor and acceptance, the narrator is led through a labyrinth of emotions to come to peace with these choices. The stories serve as reminders that there are no mistakes, only lessons, and we must seek to understand them to live happy lives. This manuscript is a work in progress.

Endangered ancestress revisited: Sarah's miraculous motherhood and the restoration of Eden

The paper examines the ‘endangered ancestress’ theme in Genesis, in which the matriarchs, Sarah and Rebecca, are passed off to alien rulers as the sisters of their respective husbands, in Sarah’s case twice. Rather than viewing these incidents as clumsy duplication, the paper reads them as a literary device in a continuous narrative. The paper argues that when read in this way, these incidents serve to underline the singular status of Sarah in contrast to Rebecca and subsequent matriarchs. Sarah is shown to be the unique foremother of Israel. Alone of all her sex, she represents a pristine new beginning, analogous to human beginnings in Eden.

Vernacular perceptions of masculinity and fatherhood among Newfoundland offshore workers and their families

My thesis is an ethnographic study of how offshore workers of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as their families, express and reflect upon traditional Newfoundland constructs of fatherhood and masculinity through narrative and ritual. With a schedule that often involves a constant shift between home and away, offshore workers in the province take part in high-risk professions in order to provide for their families back home. These professions, and their associated lifestyles, involve the incorporation of routine strategies that allows family culture to maintain itself. At the same time, these professions largely carry on a tradition of hegemonically masculine practices, albeit in a newer context. Drawing on a blend of literary and ethnographic research based on the Avalon Peninsula, I utilize examples of current Newfoundland culture to describe how nostalgic memoirs of outport Newfoundland create models of hegemonically masculine fatherhood in the province. I go on to explain how those models manifest themselves in the experiences of current offshore workers, and how they affect their spouses and children. Furthermore, through examining how young adults with offshore-working parents describe their experiences of their fathers, it is possible to see how the effects of local hegemonic masculinities are manifested through narratives about fathers who worked away from home.

Convergence of gender roles in a globalized world: international comparison of family and gender roles

This paper examines emerging and changing gender roles in different regions of the world. Using data on 12 countries from last three ISSP Special Modules “Family and Changing Gender Roles” (1994, 2002 and 2012), we compare the evolution of gender roles about motherhood and fatherhood and its relation with the extension of women as breadwinners around the world: four Western Europe countries, representatives of different models of Welfare State (Germany, United Kingdom, Norway and Spain) plus United States, three former Soviet nations (Russia, Poland and Czech Republic), two Latin American countries (Chile and Mexico) and two Asian nations (Japan and Taiwan). Data show that family change (measured both in terms of attitudes and social practices) is spreading from Western contexts to other regions of the world, although the pace of this change varies from one country to another, depending on cultural, economic and political factors.

Inte bara jämställdhet : Beslutet om föräldraledighet, moderskaps- och faderskapsidealoch idéer om barns bästa

More than gender equality. Decisions on parental leave and ideals around motherhood, fatherhood and the best interest of the child On the basis of 40 semi-structured interviews, this study discusses decision making processes regarding parental leave among nascent first-time middle-class parents in Sweden. We analyze motives and ideas behind the couples’ plans and decisions and how decisions on parental leave were made. We furthermore show how the decision making processes can be discussed in relation to the institutional context. The results show that ideals and norms of gender equality are accompanied by gendered divisions of work and care and a partially traditional view on motherhood and fatherhood. Contrary to previous studies, we do not find a clear link between gender equal ideals and explicit negotiations. An equal division of parental leave is, in some couples, taken for granted to such an extent that the decision on how to divide the leave is taken implicitly rather than explicitly. Decisions on division of parental leave are not isolated processes. Rather, ideals and norms around motherhood, fatherhood, gender equality and not least what is ‘in the best interest of the child’ constitute part of the context in which these decision making processes take place.

ASPECTOS PSICODINÂMICOS E ADAPTATIVOS DE PAIS E MÃES DE CRIANÇAS DIAGNOSTICADAS COM PARALISIA CEREBRAL

Diante do sofrimento e das questões enfrentadas por pais e mães de crianças diagnosticadas com paralisia cerebral, o presente trabalho estudou aspectos psicodinâmicos e adaptativos. Para tanto, foi realizado estudo clínico, de recorte diagnóstico, em que participaram dois pais e duas mães de crianças com paralisia cerebral que contavam de 1 a 5 anos de idade. Os pais e mães passaram por entrevistas clínicas preventivas orientadas pela EDAO e pela técnica de Desenho-Estória com Tema. A análise do material obtido indicou que todos eles passaram por período de crise após a notícia do diagnóstico da criança e, na atualidade, foram classificados como tendo Adaptação Ineficaz, sendo que os dois pais e uma mãe tinham Adaptação Ineficaz Severa, uma mãe Adaptação Ineficaz Moderada. Com relação aos aspectos intra-píquicos, foram identificadas defesas primitivas nessa lida com o sofrimento ocasionado pela deficiência da criança. Concluiu-se que os recursos internos anteriores ao nascimento da criança e à própria personalidade de cada pai/mãe foi preponderante em sua adaptação e que a paralisia cerebral da criança afetou todos os setores adaptativos dos pais e mães.(AU)

ASPECTOS PSICODINÂMICOS E ADAPTATIVOS DE PAIS E MÃES DE CRIANÇAS DIAGNOSTICADAS COM PARALISIA CEREBRAL

Diante do sofrimento e das questões enfrentadas por pais e mães de crianças diagnosticadas com paralisia cerebral, o presente trabalho estudou aspectos psicodinâmicos e adaptativos. Para tanto, foi realizado estudo clínico, de recorte diagnóstico, em que participaram dois pais e duas mães de crianças com paralisia cerebral que contavam de 1 a 5 anos de idade. Os pais e mães passaram por entrevistas clínicas preventivas orientadas pela EDAO e pela técnica de Desenho-Estória com Tema. A análise do material obtido indicou que todos eles passaram por período de crise após a notícia do diagnóstico da criança e, na atualidade, foram classificados como tendo Adaptação Ineficaz, sendo que os dois pais e uma mãe tinham Adaptação Ineficaz Severa, uma mãe Adaptação Ineficaz Moderada. Com relação aos aspectos intra-píquicos, foram identificadas defesas primitivas nessa lida com o sofrimento ocasionado pela deficiência da criança. Concluiu-se que os recursos internos anteriores ao nascimento da criança e à própria personalidade de cada pai/mãe foi preponderante em sua adaptação e que a paralisia cerebral da criança afetou todos os setores adaptativos dos pais e mães.(AU)

ASPECTOS PSICODINÂMICOS E ADAPTATIVOS DE PAIS E MÃES DE CRIANÇAS DIAGNOSTICADAS COM PARALISIA CEREBRAL

Diante do sofrimento e das questões enfrentadas por pais e mães de crianças diagnosticadas com paralisia cerebral, o presente trabalho estudou aspectos psicodinâmicos e adaptativos. Para tanto, foi realizado estudo clínico, de recorte diagnóstico, em que participaram dois pais e duas mães de crianças com paralisia cerebral que contavam de 1 a 5 anos de idade. Os pais e mães passaram por entrevistas clínicas preventivas orientadas pela EDAO e pela técnica de Desenho-Estória com Tema. A análise do material obtido indicou que todos eles passaram por período de crise após a notícia do diagnóstico da criança e, na atualidade, foram classificados como tendo Adaptação Ineficaz, sendo que os dois pais e uma mãe tinham Adaptação Ineficaz Severa, uma mãe Adaptação Ineficaz Moderada. Com relação aos aspectos intra-píquicos, foram identificadas defesas primitivas nessa lida com o sofrimento ocasionado pela deficiência da criança. Concluiu-se que os recursos internos anteriores ao nascimento da criança e à própria personalidade de cada pai/mãe foi preponderante em sua adaptação e que a paralisia cerebral da criança afetou todos os setores adaptativos dos pais e mães.(AU)

Motherhood, evolutionary psychology and mirror neurons or: ‘Grammar is politics by other means’

Through a close analysis of socio-biologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s work on motherhood and ‘mirror neurons’ it is argued that Hrdy’s claims exemplify how research that ostensibly bases itself on neuroscience, including in literary studies ‘literary Darwinism’, relies after all not on scientific, but on political assumptions, namely on underlying, unquestioned claims about the autonomous, transparent, liberal agent of consumer capitalism. These underpinning assumptions, it is further argued, involve the suppression or overlooking of an alternative, prior tradition of feminist theory, including feminist science criticism.

Altruism and sacrifice:Anglican priests managing ‘intensive’ priesthood and motherhood

Motherhood and Priesthood are two roles that carry with them particular expectations and demands; both are premised on the notion of altruism and sacrifice, constant availability, and putting the needs of others before one’s own (Carroll et al. 1983; Hayes 1996; Peyton and Gatrell 2013; Thorne 2000). This has also been gendered; sacrifice and altruism have traditionally been connected with women (Hays 1996). This article will examine what happens when clergy mothers simultaneously enact the roles of priesthood and motherhood, and how this is managed in the context of ‘intensive’ motherhood and priesthood. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 clergy mothers in the Anglican Church, it will highlight the contradictions, negotiations and interweaving which occurs for both roles to be concurrently enacted, offering a contextual insight into the management of motherhood vis-à-vis professional life.

The Political Economy of Reproduction: Motherhood, Work and the Home in Neoliberal Britain

This thesis investigates how the processes and practices of reproduction have been transformed not only by the ascendant political rationality of neoliberalism but also by women’s struggles that have reconfigured motherhood, the domestic home and the gendered organisation of employment. Through exploring both the 1970s feminist demand for “free 24- hour nurseries” and the contemporary provision of extended, overnight and flexible childcare, care that is often referred to as “24-hour childcare”, the research contributes to feminist understandings of the gendered and racialised class dynamics inside and outside the home and the wage. The research repositions the ‘Woman Question’ as, yet again unavoidable and necessary for comprehending and intervening in the brutalising consequences of capitalist accumulation. Situated within the Marxist feminist tradition, the work of reproduction is understood as a cluster of tasks, affective relations and employment that have historically been constructed and experienced as ‘women’s work’. The interrelation between the subjectivity of motherhood and the political economy of reproduction is analysed through a feminist genealogy of 24-hour childcare in Britain. Using ethnographic encounters, archival research and interview data with mothers and childcare workers, the research tells a story about the women who have worked both inside and outside the home, raised children, cooked and cleaned, and who, both historically and in the present, continue to create an immense amount of wealth and value. As women's labour market participation has steadily increased over the last 40 years, the discourse of reproduction has shifted to one in which motherhood is increasingly constructed as a choice. Within neoliberal discourse the decision to have a child is constructed as a private matter for which individuals bear the costs and responsibility. The thesis argues that, as a result of motherhood being constructed more and more as something that is chosen, the spaces of resistance and opposition towards motherhood have been limited and resistance has been individuated and privatised.