"We Juggle Because We Have To": Becoming Social Studies Motherscholars Before and During COVID-19

• In Event: Motherscholars Juggling Their Work in the Academy

Abstract

This paper draws on Rosi Braidotti’s (2006, 2013, 2019) theorization of a non-unitary, emergent, and relational subject to analyze the process of “becoming motherscholars” for six self-identifying women doctoral students and early career faculty in the social studies field. By examining the field’s institutional work dynamics through life notes (Bell-Scott, 1995) prepared by participating social studies motherscholars, this paper seeks to map which relations, ungirded by patriarchal conceptions of work (Federici, 2012), produced a “care penalty” (Folbre, 2001) for women engaging in care work and how such penalty manifested both before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The findings from this study hold significant implications for the social studies field if it wishes to achieve gender equity in practice.

Authors

• Chantelle Grace, University of Georgia - Athens

• Amelia Wheeler, University of Georgia - Athens