“Good Mothers” and (Nation)lisms: The Case of Lithuania, Authoritarian Russia, and of the Postsocialist Migrant Mothers in Sweden

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The panel is aimed to explore constructions of the “good mother” and how they are shaped by the state and nationalist discourses and politics on example of three different countries, including in the context of the Putin’s authoritarian regime in the RF and migrant mothers from Central Asia and the Caucasus mothering in Sweden. In particular, we are interested in how different forms and components of the “demographic anxiety” (economic, political, military, racial, etc) influence differences, but also, some similarities of these constructions. The panel also discusses how much the individual interpretations of “good motherhood” are shaped by national and religious ideas or childhood memories and how much influence the economic and social realities of mothers, including in the case of migration, have on these constructions. Finally, we explore how “good motherhood” is practiced and negotiated by individual mothers as well as used for resisting conservative tendencies and militarism (the last in the case of the Russian Federation). The presentations are the result of the research project supported by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, Sweden.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Ieva Bisigirskaitė, Vilnius U (Lithuania)

Papers

• Mothers We Care For and Mothers We Care About: Redefining ‘Good Motherhood’ through Maternal Activism in Contemporary Lithuania - Ieva Bisigirskaitė, Vilnius U (Lithuania)

• Being a 'Good Mother': Navigating 'National' Motherhood Ideals and the Realities: Post-Socialist (Muslim) Migrant Mothers and the Femonationalist Political Narrative in Sweden - Soheyla Yazdanpanah, Södertörn U (Sweden)

• 'Preservation of the nation needs women’s care': Authoritarianism and Motherhood in Russia - Yulia Gradskova, Södertörn U (Sweden)

Discussant

• Katalin Fabian, Lafayette College