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Despite the efforts of maternal advocates and feminists through 150 years or more, a great many mothers today feel dissatisfied, shortchanged, and/or inadequate in their own lives. Even those who have reckoned with the fact that standards for mothering are absurdly out of synch with the real lives that families are living in contemporary times, or have carved out comfortable personal and familial space for themselves just beyond, or far beyond, the margins of mainstream motherhood ideologies, often struggle nevertheless with a needling sense of unrest and lack of personal agency. Further, women who agree that maternal empowerment is an important point of focus for social justice may not feel positioned to organize on behalf of mother activism. This essay explores ways that mothers can hold on to the continued struggle for maternal empowerment by letting go of some of the psychological barriers to living fully and purposefully as mothers. Focusing on personal agency as a form of maternal activism, Kinser examines ways for forgiving and embracing the humanity of our own mothers or maternal figures, our selves, and our children that can serve as powerful catalysts for significant change on personal and political scales.

Background. Research on women’s experiences and perceptions of family foodwork remain under-explored. This paper emerged from grant-funded research that examined women’s perceptions and experiences as they relate to family meals. Methods. Focus group data was collected from thirty-five women in Northeast Tennessee. Women ranged in age from 18-55 years and, combined, mothered 54 children, over half of whose ages ranged from 1-5 years. Discussion was facilitated by a semi-structured moderator guide that asked about: 1) family dinners while growing up; 2) family dinners with their own children and families; and 3) whether they were interested in their meal experiences being different in any way and if so, how. Results. Emerging from the data was a major theme of memories of meals past. Such memories functioned as points of continuity and change for these women as they attended to family well-being through food labor. Both the women’s experiences growing up and the experiences of their partners functioned as access points for determining what constitutes not only “family meal,” but also “family” itself. Meal memories focused the women’s meal provision options by clarifying whether to reproduce family of origin practices, redirect them, or sever them. Significance. As families are increasingly encouraged to focus on family meals as a primary parenting method for monitoring children and attending to their well-being, women are likely are likely to feel the weight of child and familial outcomes more than men and more than they have in the past fifty years.

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Background. This study (part of a larger grant-funded omnibus study) examines the roles of mothers in Southern Central Appalachia regarding family health communication. Methods. This presentation is based on a secondary analysis (Thorne, 1994) of existing qualitative data sets from two (2) previous studies of women living in Southern Central Appalachia. In the first study, Kelly Dorgan (primary investigator), Sadie Hutson (co-principle investigator), and Kathryn Duvall (researcher) collected the stories of 29 women cancer survivors from Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia via a mixed methods approach. In the second study, Sadie Hutson (primary investigator) and Kelly Dorgan (co-investigator) investigated communication and cultural issues that may influence HPV and HPV vaccine perceptions and uptake behaviors in the region. We recruited 38 women between 18-50 years to participate in a single individual interview or focus group session. Results. The secondary analysis has yielded preliminary results about the role of “mother” in health communication within family systems. These results challenge us to reconceptualize traditional characterizations of the “Appalachian Mother.” The role of mother as related to family health communication is a complex one. Specifically, there are “many mother” roles, including informational, instrumental, and emotional. Ultimately, women who identify as mothers appear to serve as decision guides, informational agents and health communication specialists within families. Significance. This paper further explores the illness and wellness in Southern Central Appalachia, as well as the question of “Appalachian distinctiveness.”

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