In the present neoliberal era, low-income Black single mothers receiving public assistance must grapple with heightened state surveillance, the devaluation of their mothering, trying to raise Black children in a racist society, and navigating the neoliberal economic system. This dissertation examines how, in light of all this, such women perceive themselves as mothers and what they identify as the greatest influences on their ability to carry out their mothering activities. It specifically investigates how they perceive their race as influencing their motherhood and how they perceive employment in relation to motherhood. Based on in-depth interviews with 21 low-income single Black mothers in Virginia, findings illustrate that the mothers in this study recognize and resist controlling images of low-income Black single motherhood, such as the "welfare queen" and the "baby mama," and that a key aspect of their mothering activities is socializing their children around race and class. Findings also demonstrate that motherhood is a central identity for the women in this study and that they prioritize their motherhood identities over their work identities. In addition, in a departure from previous research on Black motherhood/mothering, findings show that the women in this study do not mother within dense networks of kin and community support. / Doctor of Philosophy / Low-income Black single mothers receiving public assistance must grapple with heightened state surveillance, the devaluation of their mothering, trying to raise Black children in a racist society, and declining social welfare support. This dissertation examines how, in light of all this, such women perceive themselves as mothers and what they identify as the greatest influences on their ability to carry out their mothering activities. It specifically investigates how they perceive their race as influencing their motherhood and how they perceive employment in relation to motherhood. Based on in depth interviews with 21 low-income Black single mothers in Virginia, findings illustrate that the mothers in this study recognize and resist stereotypes of low-income Black single motherhood, such as the “welfare queen” and the “baby mama,” and that a key aspect of their mothering activities is socializing their children around race and class. Findings also demonstrate that motherhood is a central identity for the women in this study and that they prioritize their motherhood identities over their work identities. In addition, in a departure from previous research on Black motherhood/mothering, findings show that the women in this study do not mother within dense networks of kin and community support.

Research over the last several decades offers clear evidence that mothers experience considerable pressure in carrying out the expectations of contemporary mothering, including expanded responsibilities relating to child and family health (Hays, 1996; Wolf, 2013). While we know that these pressures produce negative impacts, we know less about the strategies and tools mothers use to cope with these anxieties as they try to "do it right" (Villalobos, 2014). At the same time, research suggests that mothering is increasingly digitally-embedded, as mothers look to the internet and social media for information and support (Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2017). This study thus explores how mothers use Facebook groups to inform health and parenting decisions. Drawing on data generated through a digital ethnography incorporating 18 months of participant observation, discourse analysis, and interviews with 29 mothers across two sets of divergent, specialized sets of Facebook groups (focusing on “evidence-based” and “natural” health and parenting), I advance three key, interconnected arguments. First, I apply theories of boundaries and boundary-work to show how specialized Facebook groups become persuasive ideological spaces for mothers who seek certainty around their healthcare beliefs and decisions. Next, I apply the concept of echo chambers to argue that mothers involved with these specialized Facebook groups engage in siloed health learning that shapes health beliefs, decisions, and even conversations with healthcare providers. Finally, I show how mothers engage in a form of digitally-mediated emotion management by turning Facebook groups that confirm their parenting ideology in order to alleviate anxieties associated with neoliberalism and individualist parenting, and to feel better about their maternal performance. I ultimately conclude that the turn to digital platforms for certainty, reassurance, and good feelings is both a logical expression and a reflection of the latest wave of maternal responsibilization.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:37:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristiane Palmeira de Oliveira Barreto.pdf: 2017234 bytes, checksum: 702acc48673d621e2b9f244d025493ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The following dissertation has the purpose of studying the relation between mothering and mother s function in neonatal ICU. I intentionally propose to set a distance between the two concepts, being mothering the incumbency of the necessary caretaking for survival and mother s function, the practice of a symbolic function that relates the subject to its psychic constitution in its relation with the language field. In the present study, the inquiry consists in verifying whether the difficulty in practicing mothering, which occurs within the neonatal intensive care unit, may interfere with the conditions that support mother function or not, as a rule, practiced by the mother. The inquiry was conducted at a private hospital in São Paulo city, with mothers of both male and female babies, born preterm and admitted at the neonatal ICU and, subsequently, after discharge. The clinical extracts of the mother s saying during the interviews and presented in this paper are analyzed in the light of the Freud and Lacan psychoanalysis theory. And, regarding the investigation of the conditions for the performance of mother s function, I sought inspiration on the four theoretical axis formulated in the Clinical Indicators of Risk for the Child Development (IRDI). By listening to the mothers during and after the hospital admission reveals the presence of psychic impact caused by the preterm birth of a child and the admission in the neonatal ICU, as well as the difficulty in mothering the baby. Albeit, despite the psychic rapture, in the analysis of the symbolic function based on the four fundamental operations, deduced by me according to the IRDI -, it was possible to notice conditions for the mother s function to be performed / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo estudar a relação entre a maternagem e a função materna em UTI Neonatal. Proponho propositalmente um distanciamento entre os dois conceitos, onde à maternagem cabe a incumbência dos cuidados necessários à sobrevivência e à função materna o exercício de uma função simbólica - que remete o sujeito à dimensão de sua constituição psíquica por sua relação com o campo da linguagem. Neste trabalho, a investigação consiste em verificar se a dificuldade no exercício da maternagem, que ocorre no âmbito de uma unidade de terapia intensiva neonatal, pode interferir nas condições de sustentação da função materna, via de regra exercida pela mãe. A pesquisa foi realizada em um hospital da rede privada de saúde da cidade de São Paulo, com mães de bebês de ambos os sexos, nascidos prematuros e internados na UTI Neonatal e, posteriormente, no pós-alta. Os recortes clínicos das falas das mães em entrevista e apresentados neste trabalho são analisados à luz da teoria psicanalítica de Freud e de Lacan. E, para a investigação das condições para o exercício da função materna, inspirei-me nos quatro eixos teóricos formulados na pesquisa Indicadores Clínicos de Risco para o Desenvolvimento Infantil (IRDI). A escuta das mães durante e após a hospitalização revela a presença de sofrimento pelo impacto psíquico causado pelo nascimento prematuro de um filho e a internação em UTI Neonatal, bem como pela dificuldade em maternar o bebê. No entanto, apesar do arrebatamento psíquico, na análise da função simbólica a partir das quatro operações fundamentais, deduzidas por mim a partir dos IRDI -, foi possível notar as condições para que a função materna possa vir a se desempenhar

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:14:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Collier de Mendonca.pdf: 18041378 bytes, checksum: 06ebd53da1c6da2c28cd97339472663d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research investigates the communication phenomena of motherhood in advertising. Advertising signs reproduce and reinforce culturally constructed maternal ideals. Therefore, our analysis explores the constituent parts of the research context: advertising, the target audience, and the culture within they both establish communicative processes. Thus, we have defined three research issues. First, what meanings are associated with being a mother today; second, what maternal ideals are predominant within advertising messages and imagery; and third, how actual mothers and pregnant women negotiate these advertising signs. Our theoretical-methodological framework includes both semiotic and psychoanalytic concepts and qualitative research with mothers and pregnant women. An interdisciplinary discussion of Motherhood Studies, Psychoanalysis and Sociology has been included in order to enrich the understanding of the context studied. The research corpus includes Brazilian advertisements, published from 2006 to 2013 in Crescer and Pais e Filhos magazines, and Canadian advertisements, published from 2010 to 2013 in Parents Canada, Canadian Family and Today s Parent magazines. During the qualitative fieldwork, we interviewed pregnant women and mothers with children up to 8 years of age in Sao Paulo and Toronto, who read these magazines. We explored the meanings associated with being a mother today; we investigated how Brazilian and Canadian mothers perceive themselves as mothers and what they think about these advertisements, specifically regarding maternal representations, images, messages and cultural values. The advertisements were analyzed based on Peircean semiotics, following to the authors Lucia Santaella and Winfried Nöth. Our analysis aimed at identifying thematic groups with similar characteristics concerning maternal representations, images, visuals, messages, sales appeals and cultural ideals. Chapter 1 introduces the research project and the work of our Canadian advisor, Andrea O'Reilly, full professor at York University in Toronto and author of a relevant production in Motherhood Studies. In Chapter 2, we discuss current maternal ideals in Brazil and Canada and explore their origins and contradictions. In Chapter 3, we present qualitative research conducted with mothers and pregnant women in Sao Paulo, and semiotic analysis of the Brazilian advertising. In Chapter 4, we present qualitative research, conducted with mothers and pregnant women in Toronto, and semiotic analysis of Canadian advertising. In Chapter 5, we compare the Brazilian and Canadian findings, highlighting similarities and differences concerning the advertising analysis and the qualitative research phases. / Esta pesquisa investiga o fenômeno comunicacional da maternidade na publicidade. Os signos publicitários reproduzem e reforçam ideais maternos que são culturalmente construídos. Por esse motivo, nossa análise incide na exploração das partes constituintes do contexto investigado, composto por anúncios publicitários, seu público-alvo e a cultura na qual ambos estabelecem processos comunicativos. Para tanto, definimos três questões. A primeira investiga o que significa ser mãe hoje; a segunda, que ideais maternos predominam nas mensagens e imagens publicitárias; e a terceira, como as mães e grávidas dialogam com estes signos publicitários. O quadro teórico-metodológico inclui conceitos da semiótica e psicanálise, realização de pesquisa qualitativa com mães e grávidas, além da articulação de um diálogo interdisciplinar, privilegiando os estudos maternos, a psicanálise e a sociologia, para enriquecer a compreensão dos contextos estudados. O corpus de pesquisa integra anúncios veiculados nas revistas brasileiras Crescer e Pais & Filhos de 2006 a 2013 e nas revistas canadenses, Parents Canada, Canadian Family e Today s Parent de 2010 a 2013. Durante a pesquisa qualitativa, entrevistamos grávidas e mães com filhos até 8 anos em São Paulo e Toronto, leitoras destas revistas. Exploramos os significados associados atualmente ao ser mãe; investigamos como as mães brasileiras e canadenses percebem-se na condição maternal e o que pensam dos anúncios publicitários, suas representações maternas, imagens, mensagens e valores culturais. Os anúncios foram analisados com base na semiótica peirceana e nos autores Lucia Santaella e Winfried Nöth. Suas análises objetivaram: identificar grupos temáticos com características comuns nas representações maternas, imagens, elementos visuais, mensagens, apelos de venda e ideais culturais. O capítulo 1 introduz o projeto de pesquisa e o trabalho da coorientadora, Andrea O Reilly, professora titular na York University, em Toronto, autora de relevante produção no campo dos estudos maternos. No capítulo 2 discutimos os ideais maternos que vigoram no Brasil e no Canadá, suas origens e contradições. No capítulo 3 apresentamos a pesquisa qualitativa com mães e grávidas, conduzida em São Paulo, e a análise semiótica dos anúncios brasileiros. No capítulo 4 apresentamos a pesquisa qualitativa com mães e grávidas, conduzida em Toronto, e a análise semiótica dos anúncios canadenses. No capítulo 5 comparamos resultados brasileiros e canadenses, destacando semelhanças e diferenças nas análises dos anúncios e das pesquisas qualitativas

Excerpt: Family meals sit at the intersection of expert advice, child-centred philosophies, workforce demands, and “good” mother ideologies. As researchers and policymakers call for families to increase the frequency of shared family meals to solve a variety of problems related to children’s well-being, we direct our focus toward mothers, who remain largely responsible for this labour. Borrowing from relational dialectics theory, we examine how mothers navigate distal discourses as they talk about the histories, processes, and problems associated with their feeding labour and family meal experiences.

Excerpt:I live in a place that evokes fear, a place deformed by layers and layers of pulse-racing images, of intoxicating whiskey-dark stories.

Because infants are the most vulnerable members of a community, their deaths – and the resulting infant mortality rate (IMR) – are said to signal more fundamental problems that are likely to affect the general health of a community. However, a focus on proximate- and intermediate-level risk factors in epidemiological analyses presents a decontextualized picture and ignores the role of larger forces on health, disease, and illness. In response to this trend, this project will contribute to a revitalization of the use of infant mortality as an index of larger social problems by tempering statistical analyses with critical reflection regarding the effects of the liminal position of Malta within the British imperial system, prior to the Second World War. In addition, by bringing together several analytic approaches which often proceed in parallel, rather than in dialogue – historical epidemiology, social history, and the analysis of colonial discourse – this dissertation highlights the problematics of knowledge production at both the theoretical and methodological level. As a result, my work is not just about Malta, one moment in history, the calculation of infant mortality rates, or the disentanglement of various determinants of infant mortality in this context; it is about the dynamics and repercussions of power differentials and of social, economic, and political inequalities, as they define and structure health outcomes and experiences. Specifically, I will show that fluctuations in international tensions affected Malta’s population on a number of levels because of the island’s importance as a British military and naval base and its location in the middle of the Mediterranean. I will demonstrate how Malta’s “strategic position” restricted political and economic development in the island and articulated with colonial perceptions of the Maltese as “Other” and Malta as “overpopulated.” Finally, I will argue that international tensions, Malta’s location within Empire, and perceptions of the island and its inhabitants in the early twentieth century affected the ways in which infant deaths were explained and understood and the strategies of intervention initiated in the island to curtail infant mortality – all of which had a tremendous impact on the rates at which infants in Malta died.

Because infants are the most vulnerable members of a community, their deaths – and the resulting infant mortality rate (IMR) – are said to signal more fundamental problems that are likely to affect the general health of a community. However, a focus on proximate- and intermediate-level risk factors in epidemiological analyses presents a decontextualized picture and ignores the role of larger forces on health, disease, and illness. In response to this trend, this project will contribute to a revitalization of the use of infant mortality as an index of larger social problems by tempering statistical analyses with critical reflection regarding the effects of the liminal position of Malta within the British imperial system, prior to the Second World War. In addition, by bringing together several analytic approaches which often proceed in parallel, rather than in dialogue – historical epidemiology, social history, and the analysis of colonial discourse – this dissertation highlights the problematics of knowledge production at both the theoretical and methodological level. As a result, my work is not just about Malta, one moment in history, the calculation of infant mortality rates, or the disentanglement of various determinants of infant mortality in this context; it is about the dynamics and repercussions of power differentials and of social, economic, and political inequalities, as they define and structure health outcomes and experiences. Specifically, I will show that fluctuations in international tensions affected Malta’s population on a number of levels because of the island’s importance as a British military and naval base and its location in the middle of the Mediterranean. I will demonstrate how Malta’s “strategic position” restricted political and economic development in the island and articulated with colonial perceptions of the Maltese as “Other” and Malta as “overpopulated.” Finally, I will argue that international tensions, Malta’s location within Empire, and perceptions of the island and its inhabitants in the early twentieth century affected the ways in which infant deaths were explained and understood and the strategies of intervention initiated in the island to curtail infant mortality – all of which had a tremendous impact on the rates at which infants in Malta died.

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