[Commlist] Motherhoods on Screen: Global Perspectives

Motherhoods on Screen: Global Perspectives

Maynooth University, Ireland

23rd & 24th September 2022

Organized by Loic Bourdeau & Julie Rodgers

The success of recent films such as The Lost Daughter (2021) and Madres 
paralelas [Parallel Mothers] (2021), series like Maid (2021), Plan Coeur 
[The Hook-Up Plan] (2018-22), Motherland (2016-2021) or Mythomaniac 
(2019-21), and the active presence of mothers on social media and blogs, 
all demonstrate the potential of motherhood for creative cultural 
production on screen. In addition to Rodgers’ extensive scholarship on 
motherhood, including The Truth about (M)Otherhood: Choosing to be 
Childfree (2021), and Bourdeau’s work on care and subversive models of 
motherhood in Horrible Mothers: Representation across North America 
(2019), a number of contributions such as Italian Motherhood on Screen 
(2017), Media Work, Mothers and Motherhood: Negotiating the 
International Audiovisual Industry (2021), and Mothers Comrades, and 
Outcasts in East German Women’s Films (2016) all point to the need to 
further interrogate and expand the conversations around motherhood. This 
conference specifically seeks to investigate what the medium of the 
screen contributes to the topic, particularly in relation to the lesser 
discussed maternal narratives (as evident in the list below).

In collaboration with Maynooth University’s Motherhood Project, we 
invite abstracts for a two-day interdisciplinary conference to be held 
at Maynooth University, Ireland on 23rd and 24th September 2022. Our 
format will be hybrid to accommodate panelists’ needs and take into 
account the ongoing health crisis. You are welcome to consider the 
following topics across one or more contexts (open to any historical 
period):

- adoption and non-traditional motherhood

- Black, Brown, Indigenous motherhood

- blog culture, social media (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, for example), 
celebrity

- LGBTQ+ mothers on screen

- maternal regret

- media discourse on childfree women

- migrant motherhood

- motherhood and addiction

- motherhood and crime

- motherhood and disability

- motherhood and healthcare

- motherhood and loss/bereavement

- motherhood and selfishness

- motherhood and the COVID-19 pandemic

- motherhood and the medical humanities

- motherhood and trauma

- political discourse on motherhood / activism

- Screen industry and motherhood

- single mothers on screen

- streaming platforms and the representation of motherhood

- the rejection of motherhood on screen

This list is non-exhaustive, and we invite scholars to propose their own 
topics. In additional to individual proposals, we encourage proposals 
for entire panels of 3, roundtables of 6, or other non-traditional 
formats (e.g., flash panels, film club, etc.). Abstracts of 250 words 
(individual) or 600 words (group) should be sent to Loic Bourdeau 
((loic.bourdeau /at/ icloud.com)) and Julie Rodgers ((Julie.Rodgers /at/ mu.ie)) by 
May 1, 2022.

Panelists will be informed of the outcome before the end of May. For 
planning purposes, please indicate whether you wish to attend in-person 
or online.

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