Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)
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Mothers in Law: Towards Equality within the Profession for Lawyer Mothers
Full text linkMothers who work in the legal profession face a wide range of obstacles to their success. This article reports on a qualitative study of lawyer-mothers in Ottawa, Ontario, that problematizes and calls into question the widely held assumption that the law profession is on a path of progress towards better accommodation for the needs of mothers, thereby troubling assumptions that gender equality in the legal profession is generally improving
Anishinaabeg Maternal Activism: We Sing a Prayer for the Water
Full text linkMy Anishinaabeg maternal activism arises from the water songs of my ancestors and the women of my Anishinaabeg community. As Anishinaabeg women and mothers, our maternal activism around water and water rights is rooted in our interconnected relationship with the water as women and mothers. The traditional and modern rationale of maternal activism is rooted not only in treaty responsibilities but also in the nibi-dibaajimowinan, such as our sacred prayers and songs. Anishinaabeg mothers, women, and those LGBTTIQQ2S+ persons who identify on the female gender spectrum take up the of role of the water activists to honour and uphold their duties to the water. The activist role is really an extension of our traditional roles as carriers of the water (e.g., menstruation, pregnancy, or inside copper pails during our ceremonies) and keepers of the treaty rights of water. Activism for the water is not only like protecting a relative but also like protecting ourselves because we are not living well as human beings, Anishinaabeg, unless we care for the water that sustains us. Anishinaabeg maternal activism is born out of our water songs. In this article, I explore why Anishinaabeg mothers engage in activism for the water. I explore the traditional teachings that inform Anishinaabeg maternal relationships to water. I explain Anishinaabeg women’s path to activism through the teachings of women’s role in warriorship. Last, I share some traditional prayer songs for the water that have been publicly published and explain their importance to Anishinaabeg maternal activism in relation to activism for the sovereignty of Indigenous water rights, culture, health, and territory
“Angry …and Hurt and … Just Messed Up” and Still Fighting: Analyzing the Mothering Activism of Vivian Tuccaro, Mother of Amber Tuccaro
Full text linkThis article contributes to the growing body of research on grieving mothers who have turned to activism to publicize the loss of a loved one, to raise awareness, and to advocate for justice (Baydar and İvegen; Bejarano; Burchianti; Karaman; Savarese). In publicizing their grief, the mothers stressed that their loved ones were persons whose loss was deeply felt. Mothering scholars and advocates have demonstrated how the women effectively used their collective suffering as a basis for social change (e.g., Karaman).
This article analyzes Alberta-based mother, Vivian Tuccaro, who has advocated for justice on behalf of her daughter, Amber Tuccaro, since she disappeared over a decade ago. In this article, Vivian Tuccaro’s advocacy, supported by her son, Paul, and her community, is scrutinized for its lessons on the promotion of justice in the aftermath of a daughter’s disappearance. This article highlights the Tuccaro family’s grief as, tragically, one of many families affected by the loss of a murdered daughter. It also stresses their work to commemorate Amber’s life. As the article discusses, the Tuccaro family’s advocacy has taken many forms, including participating in news conferences and news stories, filing a complaint regarding law enforcement failings, establishing Facebook pages, testifying before national forums, and hosting memorial round dances, which is a particular focus of this paper. The memorial dances are a demonstration of decolonial grief that remaps mourning into spaces, thereby unsettling some of the dominant ordering and indifference that propels violence. As Karyn Recollet states “Indigenous round dances that produce spatial tags are symbologies of Indigenous motion. As such, they become tremendously meaningful as filling rupturous spaces with love” (“Glyphing” 136)
Embracing the F-Word Together: My Mom and Me Swearing by Feminism
Full text linkActivism—a playful, joyful form of activism—has been a central feature of my life, partly because of the way in which my mom and I grew as activists together. Feminism, antiracism, and decolonial forms of activism are foundational in my scholarly work and my daily life. In this piece, I take a light-hearted approach to the ways in which my mom and I took up feminism.
The Parsi community emanates from Persia and has been in South Asia for hundreds of years. In this narrative, I tell stories about my mom, Mahrookh, and me, as we learned about feminism together, on the West Coast of Turtle Island (North America). My mom grew up in India, the youngest with four brothers. Her dad, Nariman Munshi, was so keen to have a daughter that, despite my Granny’s insistence on having only two kids, they kept trying until they got a girl! So she was named Rani—Queen—and she was treated like a precious gift by her parents. Tragically, her father was murdered when she was only twelve years old, irrevocably disrupting everything, forever. Her brothers became tougher than her dad had ever been. When she received an invitation from her aunt in Nairobi, Kenya, to help take care of the family while Masi (mom’s sister) was convalescing from surgery, Mom jumped on the boat to escape. She had a lovely time in Nairobi and ended up married to Hoshang Shroff, my dad, within a few years, partly because her Masa (Masi’s husband) thought it’d be a great way to keep her in Nairobi. Marrying at age seventeen was far too early, and my Granny was furious! She slapped Masa with a whopping strike! My mom and me had a feminist Granny, who inspired us. Moving to the lands of the Coast Salish Nations, where this narrative begins, provided us with even more opportunities to evolve as feminists. (Please see the accompanying video, which forms part of this narrative: https://zxxresearch.med.ubc.ca/resources/.
FAN Mothers in Our Fragile Social Network against Climate Change
Full text linkThis email chain conversation between eight mother-artist activists written over a period of one year between January 2018 and January 2019 reflects our various family lives and attitudes to climate change at that time. The authors identify as belonging to the Family Activist Network and, consequently, to the environmental movement in the age of the Anthropocene. The piece addresses: (1) the many contradictions, paradoxes, hypocrisies, and incongruences inherent in trying to be mother-artist activists; (2) feminist solidarity; (3) questioning if it is possible to reconcile activism with maternity, under what circumstances, and according to what models of activist/maternal practice; (4) intergenerational injustice; (5) the question of acting or not acting; (6) the question of paying attention—noticing how you live and how you create the conditions for another human to live; (7) other life—other humans, nonhumans, and the earth; and (8) the spectacle of mothers and children in protest— the whole performance of mothering in the public realm, at rallies, marches, and art-activist events
Brown Bodies, Brown Worlds: Creating Cadence and Crafting Karma
Full text linkSeeking to trouble monolithic (and at times pejorative) constructions of South Asian girls and females, as part of my doctoral research I engaged in a long term multiperspectival narrative inquiry (Clandinin) into the storied experiences of two girls, their mothers and teacher over the span of several years. My research puzzles were shaped and contoured by the experiences I embody as a woman of colour, a South Asian daughter born, raised, educated, and living in Canada. In the unfolding of this research, in ethical relationship with co-learners, we narratively inquired into our experiences of identity-making and identity-living as crafting an artistry of our lives by shifting away from more traditional and presupposed understandings of academic research. In doing so, this study illuminated and honoured different artful and feminist ways of knowing, being, and learning (Menon, An Artful Narrative Inquiry) infused within a narrative understanding of social justice (Caine et al.). To invite these multifarious ways of knowing and living, I deliberately invoked artwork spaces to create, think, and muse personally and collectively. I came to call this type of engagement heart-full work (Menon, A Story Cloth).
Within this relational space of this piece, selected heart-full musings paired with poetry are brought forward to highlight the nuanced experiences of South Asian girls and women, as daughters and mothers who are empowered (O’Reilly, Outlaw(ing) Motherhood, 20) creative, agentic, and artistic architects of our respective coloured worlds (Menon, An Artful Narrative Inquiry)
The Queen Mothers of Ghana: Maternal Activists of the Twenty-First Century
Full text linkThe instating of the queen mothers of Ghana—an ancient tradition in the region, much documented by researchers and highly valued for its equitable political influence—was discontinued during colonial times. It was revived recently, and as a traditional and contemporized practice, it embodies the “politics of care” (Stein) exhibited by maternal groups in challenging situations through its proactive interactions with several Ghanaian communities. This article examines the effective deployment of this tradition in a particular region of Ghana where these women leaders are working selflessly and systematically to care for vulnerable people at every level. The transformational leadership style of the queen mothers shows great concern for people and relationships and, thus, has a more interactive, nurturing, and democratic style (Hassan and Silong 363). The queen mothers challenge the maleoriented leadership style that has become prevalent in postcolonial Africa while contesting the essentialization of motherhood based solely on patriarchal interpretations of and assumptions about the female role in families (O’Reilly 14). As the case of the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association (MKQMA)—which has 370 queen mothers as members (Steegstra 110)—shows, when women get together and care for a community, they can achieve great things: caring for children, providing nutrition, education, social connections, and safety nets, and enhancing visibility for the causes vital to communities, to name just a few. Hence, this article attempts to catalog and evaluate the radical maternal frame of the initiatives taken by the queen mothers in Ghana and their growing local and regional influence
Mom Blogging as Maternal Activism: How to Be an Ally for Autism Acceptance
Full text linkThe autism acceptance movement advocates for respect, support, and accommodations so that autistics can participate in public life. This article examines two blogs by mothers of autistic children as case studies of how to be an ally to autism acceptance. In the early 2000s, the authors of Squidalicious and diary of a mom blogged about their experiences as mothers of autistic children who came to be advocates for autism acceptance. Dominant narratives of autism often portray it as a medical tragedy, and mothers of autistics are cast as warriors seeking cures or as martyrs to unfulfilling caregiving. In contrast, these blogs portray autism as a form of neurodiversity that includes both strengths and challenges, such as difficulties that come from social and physical environments that do not accommodate autism. By blogging about the everyday ups and downs of their lives, these mothers engage in five clusters of activity that constitute their allying with the autism acceptance movement: advocating for inclusion and accommodations; personalizing autism through portraying family life; providing social support for parents, children, and autistic advocates; educating readers about autism acceptance; and showing their own change and learning. Examining these practices in this specific context yields insight into the potential and challenges of online maternal activism