Mothering

‘Mothering – Subversive Care as a Radical Practice’ is both an invitation and a call to place mothering, as a political practice, at the centre of social debates. Mothering – as distinct from terms such as motherhood or parenthood, which describe a state – is a practical act of relationship-building and care that can be undertaken from many different positions. Forms of care, sharing and looking after others are not side issues, but subversive, radical practices that society cannot and must not do without.

This volume brings together voices that highlight the diversity of mothering – as a lived, resistant and deeply political practice. Through poems, theoretical reflections, conversations and images, a polyphonic tapestry unfolds, weaving together experiences of mothering and non-mothering, of care, responsibility and resistance. The book draws attention to the often invisible realities of care and explores the possibilities of conceiving of mothering beyond hegemonic, gendered and colonially shaped norms. Here, mothering emerges as a form of knowledge transmission and as a counter-epistemic practice that lives on in relationships, gestures, routines and stories.