This thesis will examine the representation of motherhood in horror cinema in order to discuss the problems and potentials of repeated domestic traditions. While maternal horror narratives impose gender roles based on heterosexual hegemonic biases, some of these films also examine the feminine experience and criticize the patriarchal institutional structures that affect domesticity and femininity. If we discuss these promising features, we can build on the implied trajectories, and engender more representation of marginalized experience in order to seek out new methods of cultural stabilization and unity. This proposal relies on Jacques Derrida's theory of hauntology, which addresses past and future specters of anxieties and ideologies, and suggests that in order to confront these anxieties, we must recognize how and why mainstream repeats cultural traditions, and how to engage these specters to project new resolutions. By studying The Ring (2001), Silent Hill (2006), and Mama (2013), I have determined that most maternal horror narratives impose gender roles and standards upon its mother characters, but their conclusions criticize patriarchal rhetoric, and repeat cultural traditions with new, progressive implications that can both challenge and resolve cultural stability. This thesis intends to generate more discussion for domestic representation in mainstream media, negotiate our desire for cultural stability with destabilizing, non-hegemonic resolutions, and call attention to the social pressure enforced on mothers that neglects their experience and position.

My major work, ‘The Hum of Concrete’, is a novel that takes the form of a series of stand-alone stories or meditations. It has five main characters, all women, and is set in Malmö, Sweden. The city itself plays a part in the narrative. The characters include Nassrin, a Muslim cleaner; Rhyme, a troubled street kid; Bodil, a middle-aged doctor; Estella, a black postie and Susanna, a lesbian teacher for immigrants. Each main character is presented in three stories, initially as a young woman and later as a partner and then mother. Nassrin walks into the sea fully clothed with her new baby in her arms because she cannot cope with the fact that the child is of indeterminate sex. Rhyme spends the lead up to Christmas on a park bench and is offered ten dollars for a blow job. Bodil arranges her mother’s last birthday party while coming to terms with being pregnant with her first child in her forties. Estella tries in vain to write a sexy story stumbling into new realms of her own sexuality as she does her research. Susanna is thick-skinned and stands between the violent boys and a fight. The stories in ‘The Hum of Concrete’ are stories of loss and lust, of grief, happiness, love and despair. They represent the diversity of life for women and mothers in the city today. The minor component of the thesis, an exegetical essay, is a reflection on writings about motherhood: my own as well as others. Motherhood is an aspect of life that most women (and many men) take very seriously. However, motherhood must be balanced against work and other family commitments, relationships outside the family and other fulfilling personal activities. The exegetical essay argues for the diversity and complexity of mothering by focusing on fictional mothers who struggle with some part of motherhood, whether it be pregnancy, labour, bonding with infants or coping with children as they grow older. To what extent is a mother defined by her motherhood? Is a mother only a mother? The essay discusses a selection of texts that have influenced my own novel in one way or another. My interest in working mothers includes mothers who are writers. I discuss the concept of maternal feminism and draw on my Swedish background to explore the complex relationship between childrearing and work, showing how this relationship can differ between cultures in the Western world, depending on the support structures available to mothers. The essay explores the process of writing as a mother as a specific case of the challenges that face working mothers. Finally, I suggest that love between mother and child as well as realistic expectations might be key components when successfully balancing mothering. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2007

Australian women’s participation in paid work has been and continues to be strongly influenced by gendered patterns of parental care. This thesis examines how children structure another dimension of economic stratification in Australia, hourly wages. Previous studies from the United States and Great Britain show women who care for children have lower wages than their childless counterparts and that this motherhood gap in pay is partly explained by mothers’ interruptions to employment and movement into part-time jobs. Outside the US and Britain fewer studies of the motherhood gap in pay have been undertaken. Compared to these two countries, Australia has lower maternal employment rates and higher rates of part-time work. These features may increase wage disparities between mothers and childless women in the Australian labour market. Australia, unlike Britain and the United States, has a history of centralised wage regulation, leading to a comparatively narrower wage distribution and a higher minimum wage. These institutional features may offer protection against downward wage mobility. This thesis investigates how motherhood influences the hourly wages of Australian women using panel data. Previous Australian research has documented static wage disparities, relying on cross-sectional data. My analysis draws on the first six waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2001-2006), a large, nationally representative panel survey. The thesis is comprised of three studies. First, I investigate the overall motherhood gap in pay in Australia in 2001. In aggregate, the mean wage of women with children is equal to that of childless women. After imputing a potential wage for mothers who are not employed, I show that the overall motherhood gap in pay would be considerably wider in Australia were fewer mothers to exit the labour force. This is because mothers without tertiary qualifications are less likely to be employed than mothers with a certificate, diploma or degree. Second, I use the panel design of HILDA to estimate female wage equations using fixed-effects regression. Controlling for differences in observed human capital, part-time work and unobserved heterogeneity, I find each child lowers wages by 6%. The analysis also reveals that mothers’ propensity to work part-time does not explain any of the Australian motherhood gap in pay. After incorporating detailed controls for time-varying job characteristics, I find that part-time wages are 14% higher than full-time wages. On average, the pay premium for part-time work more than offsets the pay penalty associated with one or two children. Third, I narrow my focus to Australian women experiencing a birth between 2001 and 2006, assessing whether the wage premium for part-time work extends to transitions at this point in the lifecourse. I investigate patterns of wage growth among mothers returning to employment within 3 years of a birth. My results reveal that Australian mothers who transition from full-time to part-time hours have significantly higher wage growth than mothers who remain in full-time employment. Taken together, my results suggest women’s part-time employment has a distinctive form in Australia. I find no evidence Australian mothers’ part-time employment constitutes a low-paid segment of the labour force. Isolating a causal explanation for the comparatively high wages of Australian women’s part-time employment is difficult, though two factors are likely to be important. First, Australian mothers’ participation in part-time employment rapidly increased during the 1970s and 1980s, a period when wages were largely regulated through collective agreements. Although wage determination has become more deregulated since the mid-1980s, the principle that part-time employees should receive pro rata wages does not appear to have been contested by Australian employers. This could be because demand for labour in feminised industries has remained strong. Second, decisions to remain attached to employment around childbirth could possibly be structured by the availability of part-time work. Rather than transition into a lower waged part-time job, Australian mothers may exit the labour force drawing on supports for stay-at-home mothers in the Australian family payment and taxation system. In the longer term, mothers who continue in part-time work may have fewer opportunities for upward mobility and flatter wage trajectories. As additional waves of HILDA become available, such divergences in wage trajectories will be able to be empirically investigated. This study examines female wages in a period of strong economic growth and low unemployment. Part-time employment may not be positively associated with wages in a macroeconomic context of lower demand for labour and rising unemployment. An interesting avenue for future research would be to compare how transitions into part-time work influence female wages across periods of strong and weak labour market growth.

<p>This comparative research synthesis examines teenage motherhood in the UK and in Sweden. The UK has the highest rate of teenage motherhood in Western Europe and Sweden has the lowest. Firstly, the article examines the reasons as to why the rates differ to such an extent between these countries. Secondly, it compares the extent to which teenage mothers are socially excluded in the UK and in Sweden. Finally, it looks at how the available social support for teenage mothers differs between the UK and Sweden. The synthesis concludes that low expectations due to poverty is the main factor as to why teenage motherhood is more common in the UK than in Sweden, but that the level of social exclusion that teenage mothers face in both countries is similar. The support that teenage mothers in the UK obtain from society is customised towards them as a specific group, whilst teenage mothers in Sweden receive support that is formulated for vulnerable people in general.</p>

<p>The aim of the study is to investigate the practice of psychoanalysis with infants, and its effect on mother and child. With psychoanalytical thoeries and contemporary research on infants interaction as a basis, five interwievs with psychoanalysts in practice has been done. Also taking part of a clinical meeting with nine psychoanalysts has been done. Two of the interwieved analysts where part of this meeting, therefor the total sum of twelve psychoanalysts who reports their thoughts about the process i infantanalysis. The study also includes three participating observations of infantanalysis. The collected material has been examined with the intention to understand the psychoanalysts own experiences as well as the eventual effect the analys could have on mother, child and sometimes the father. The psychoanalysts describes how the treatment really helps both mother an child, and the proof for this is the mothers way to change her way to interact with the baby. The result shows the analysts themselves believes the interaction mother – child is improving with help from analysis. The discussion debate however the eventual effect on mother – child can be established, how the analysis is practised and if the psychoanalysts way to treat children is anything anyone could practise.</p><p> </p> / <p>Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka psykoanalys med spädbarn och dess inverkan på mor-barn samspelet. Med utgångspunkt i psykoanalytiska teorier och nutida forskning om spädbarnets medfödda samspelskompetenser har fem intervjuer med praktiserande psykoanalytiker utförts. Utöver dessa fem intervjuer har medverkande på ett kliniskt möte med nio närvarande psykoanalytiker gjorts. Två av de intervjuade ingår i gruppen psykoanalytiker på det kliniska mötet; totalt redogörs tolv psykoanalytikers uppfattningar om processerna i spädbarnsanalys. I undersökningen ingår också tre deltagande observationer av spädbarnsanalys. Det insamlade materialet har granskats med intentionen att förstå både psykoanalytikernas egna upplevelser av spädbarnsanalysen, och den eventuella effekt analysen har på mor, barn och i vissa fall även fadern. Spädbarnsanalytikerna beskriver att behandlingen hjälper både mor och barn och beviset för det är att moderns beteende och förmåga att uttrycka sig förändras så att samspelet mor-barn fungerar bättre. Resultatet visar att spädbarnsanalytikerna själva anser sig se att samspelet mellan mor och barn stärks av analys. Diskussionen tar upp hur den eventuella effekten på mor - barn i analys kan påvisas, hur analysen praktiseras och om psykoanalytikerns sätt att bemöta spädbarn kan användas av alla som möter mor - barn par där samspelet inte fungerar.</p><p> </p>

<p>Inom socialt arbete med barn och familj är föräldraskap och hur barn och föräldrar</p><p>ser på just detta en viktig faktor. Därför är det väsentligt att medvetenheten om</p><p>vad som innefattas i ett bra, fungerande föräldraskap fördjupas. Barns uppfattning</p><p>om sin egen tillvaro efterfrågas sällan. Vid en översikt av den forskning som</p><p>bedrivits om barn och deras livssituation kunde vi konstatera att empirin i dessa</p><p>avhandlingar i väldigt liten utsträckning kom från barnen själva.</p><p>Uppsatsens syfte var att fördjupa kunskaperna om vad bra föräldraskap är sett ur</p><p>barns perspektiv. Våra frågeställningar var: Hur ser barns bild av ett gott föräldraskap</p><p>ut? Finns det några skillnader mellan hur en bra mamma och en bra pappa</p><p>ska vara? För att besvara dessa frågeställningar lät vi en grupp 6: e-klassare skriva</p><p>uppsatser utifrån de underliggande frågeställningar som bland annat handlar om</p><p>bra egenskaper hos en förälder, vad som är viktigt att kunna prata med en förälder</p><p>om och vikten av gränssättning. Studien utgår dels från Bowlbys anknytningsteori,</p><p>där bindning och en trygg bas är centrala begrepp. Vi anlade ett systemperspektiv</p><p>i vår kvalitativa analys och tittade på föräldraskap både utifrån familjen</p><p>som ett socialt system och familjen sett i ett samhällssystem. Analysen indelades i</p><p>olika teman som både bygger på de frågeställningar barnen hade vid uppsatsskrivandet</p><p>och de mönster vi kunde se i deras uppsatser.</p><p>Resultatet av empirin visade att ett gott föräldraskap handlar om att ge sina barn</p><p>omsorg, skydd och trygghet. Vi kunde även se en viss skillnad i hur den undersökta</p><p>gruppen barn beskriver en bra mamma respektive en bra pappa.</p> / <p>In social work with children and families parenting is an important matter. Children’s</p><p>and parent’s point of view in this matter are of great importance. What</p><p>might be included in good parenting therefore needs to be examined. Children’s</p><p>opinion about their daily life is seldom asked for. When overlooking the scientific</p><p>research that has been made about children and their situation, it became clear that</p><p>the empirical material in a very small amount comes from children themselves.</p><p>The purpose of this study was to obtain deeper knowledge about what good parenting</p><p>is from children’s perspective. Our questions were: What are children’s</p><p>beliefs about good parenting? Are there any differences between a good mother</p><p>and a good father? In order to answer these questions we gave a group of children</p><p>in 6-th class the task to write an essay about good qualities in parents, what’s important</p><p>to be able to talk to ones parents about and the importance of boundaries.</p><p>The study emanates from Bowlby’s attachment theory which holds attachment</p><p>and a secure base as central concepts. In our qualitative analysis we applied a</p><p>systems perspective and looked at parenting as a social system from a family perspective</p><p>as well as from a society perspective. The analysis was classified in</p><p>themes that emanated from the questions the children used when writing their</p><p>essays.</p><p>The results showed that good parenting is about giving the children care, protection</p><p>and security. We were also able to see certain differences in how this group</p><p>of children described a good mother and a good father.</p>

<p>Alice Lyttkens (1897-1991) was a very popular author in Sweden during several decades in the middle of the twentieth century. She was most famous for her historical novels. During her first period as a novelist in the 1930s, however, she wrote contemporary fiction, reflecting the situation of contemporary Women. The traditional view of the two sexes as “complementary” permeated the interwar period. Complementary at this time was presupposed as an asymmetrical and hierarchical relation between the two sexes. The male was seen as superior to the female in being strong when she was weak etc. According to the Swedish researcher Kristina Fjelkestam’s dissertation Ungkarlsflickor, kamrathustrur och manhaftiga lesbianer this view was close at hand in representations of femininity. In this paper I discuss how the protagonists in Alice Lyttkens novels Flykten från vardagen (1933) and - kommer inte till middagen (1934) relate to this social norm, or ”doxa”. By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that this ”doxa” is represented in both novels, but strongly challenged by the protagonists in their actions and life choices. The narrator also questions the predominated complementary view and demonstrates the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings throughout the novels. The author there by emphasizes a critical feminist attitude. The narrator is also critical of the superficial so-called modern characters, which apparently is under the influence of the ”doxa”.</p>

<p>Sarah Kane’s first play Blasted (1995) has often been read in a normative and biographical way by critics, authors and previous researchers. This essay makes a supplementary close reading of Blasted from gender and genealogical perspectives and utilizes theoretical works by Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray and Michel Foucault. My study makes clear that the characters different positions in language and talk create and maintain a power imbalance between them. Efforts to change and develop one’s individual position in language and talk are being made throughout the play since it is the only way to bring about a change in the social power structure. A fact that in turn also subsequently punishes those efforts. By analyzing the tools of representation, Kane points out a direct link between a violent power imbalance in a couples relationship and the violence of a war zone. In Blasted, it is revealed how violence in a private situation is mirrored in a situation of public violence and how the public violence, in turn, crawls back to the private zone and there repeats itself. By forcing one of the main characters to regress back to the infancy of language and from there alter the ability to act within the framework of human interrelations, Kane demonstrates how a change in social structures can be made, and as is shown in this essay, this indicates that a knowledge of how the social structures are being maintained and how they in turn can be disarranged, is what is required to create an opportunity for change.</p>

This dissertation examines Goethe’s portrayal of femininity in Die Wahlver-wandtschaften and how his depiction of all three central female characters relates to feminine ideals that were promoted through the theoretical gender debate of the late 1700s in Germany and Western Europe. I analyze Charlotte’s, Luciane’s, and Ottilie’s actions and interactions in various triadic character constellations in order to offer new insights into Goethe’s portrayal of femininity. In so doing, I argue that Goethe’s depiction of Charlotte holds the key to understanding how far Die Wahlverwandtschaften functions as (critical) commentary on the late Enlightenment gender discourse. I maintain that the actions and interactions of these three women show them as at times ‘unfit’ and/or unwilling to meet feminine ideals promoted in the late Enlightenment. I apply central concepts of Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytic theory from the 1970s and 1980s as analytical tools to examine how far Goethe’s Wahlverwandt-schaften can be viewed as a critique of the norms and expectations commonly expressed in the late Enlightenment. I primarily focus on Kristeva’s concepts of subjectivity formation, semiotic and symbolic modalities, abjection, and her theorizing of motherhood. Kristeva’s emphasis on the pivotal role of the maternal function in the child’s identity formation and her representation of femininity as alterity allow me to explore the significance of Charlotte’s prevalence among the characters and to approach Goethe’s ambiguous and complex portrayal of unsteady, constantly shifting, and interrelated models of femininity in Charlotte, Luciane, and Ottilie as a narrative experiment in which he tests the viability of such models within the surrounding social discourse. In the main body of this dissertation, I begin by concentrating on Charlotte’s partnerships with men, and then I focus on her maternal role in relation to Luciane, Ottilie, and Otto. By making Charlotte the ‘epicenter’ of this investigation, I explore how far Goethe shapes her, Luciane, and Ottilie as characters who transgress late Enlightenment gender boundaries and thus deviate from what were considered ‘feminine ideals’ in order to underscore the arbitrary and contradictory nature of the prevalent social order.

This study explores Indian culture in second-generation Indian American families. For the most part, this generation was not socialized to Indian culture in India, which raises the question, how do parents maintain and teach culture to their third-generation children? To answer this question, I interviewed 18 second-generation Indian American couples who had at least one child. Rather than focus on how assimilated or Americanized the families were, I examine the maintenance of Indian culture. Instead of envisioning culture as a binary between “Indian” and “American,” second-generation parents often experience “Indianness” and “Americanness” as interwoven in ways that were not always easily articulated. I also explore the co-ethnic matrimonial process of my participants to reveal the salience of Indian-American identity in their lives. A common experience among my participants was the tendency of mainstream American non-Indians to question Indian-Americans about India and Indian culture. My participants frequently were called upon to be “cultural ambassadors” to curious non-Indians. Religion served as a primary conduit for teaching Indian culture to third-generation children. Moreover, religion and ethnic identity were often conflated. Mothers and fathers share the responsibility of teaching religion to third-generation children. However, mothers tend to be the cultural keepers of the more visible cultural objects and experiences, such as, food, clothing, and language. Fathers were more likely to contribute to childcare than housework. The fathers in my study believe they father in a different social context than their fathers did. By negotiating Indian and American culture, fathers parent in a way that capitalizes on what they perceive as the “best of both worlds.” Links to the local and transnational community were critical to maintaining ties to other co-ethnics and raising children within the culture. Furthermore, most of the parents in my study said they would prefer that their children eventually marry co-ethnics in order to maintain the link to the Indian-American community. Ultimately, I found that Indian culture endures across first- and second-generation Indian Americans. However, “culture” is not a fixed or monolithic object; families continue to modify traditions to meet their emotional and cultural needs.