Mother-Scholars: Women Who Intellectualize and Mother in Higher Education

• In Event: Gender Equity as an Act of Praxis

Abstract

Feminists have asserted that maternal knowledge can be applied outside the immediate context of family, informing and benefiting other social arenas and concerns, such as politics, community relationships, peace, and environmental justice. It is against this backdrop that I present the narratives of thirty-six mother-scholars in higher education, selected through purposive sampling at universities across the United States. Mother-scholars contend that even when restrained by patriarchy, motherhood can be a source of empowerment and agency in academia. Through narratives, mother-scholars collapse and nuance the binary between the intellect and the maternal, resulting in motherwork ruptures in higher education.

Author

• Yvette V. Lapayese, Loyola Marymount University