The "Successful Body" in Academia: Collective Memory Research on M/others

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Constructions of Motherhood

Abstract

Using collective memory methodology, we deconstruct, using the collective memory research process, the ways we build our identity as mothers and scholars, thinking through what constitutes a “successful body” in academic spaces. In theorizing Haug’s (1987) methodology, we focus on a particular situation, rather than the life as entirety, to interrogate memories as sites of cultural production and possible intervention (Kamler, 2001). By analyzing memories which highlight tensions in our identities as m/other and scholar, we make visible larger discourses about mothering at play in these textual constructions and open our stories up as “sites of meaning making” (Park, 2005). This collective memory process invites the “whole self” to take stake in the research process, academia, and being.

Authors

• Anna Schick, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Elise Toedt, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Abby Boehm-Turner, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities