As If It Were One Day is a multimedia art installation that chronicles patterns of light, movement, and sound, channeling the fluidity of time within the newborn phase of familial living. After giving birth to my daughter, I spent the next seven weeks observing these elements and recording them via video. The resulting art installation acknowledges my efforts to navigate my current life as an artist and a mother, my past battle with postpartum depression, and my consequent gravitation toward light.

Using Black feminist criticism, this study will examine the influence of the multifaceted yet simultaneous system of oppression on individuality and mutuality in the aftermath of slavery, as depicted in Toni Morrison’s works in Beloved and Jazz. Furthermore, this essay will explore the effects of the intersecting system of oppression on the characters’ identity formation. It will also investigate the influence of intersecting systems of oppression on the characters’ perception of motherhood. This study will highlight the ways in which Morrison’s two novels show how racism and sexism affect Black women’s maternal authority even after they have claimed ownership of themselves.

To read a book or watch a play is to transport oneself to another place and time. However, it is not only the consumers of literature that travel; texts themselves can also make journeys. As is the case for Elin Améen’s play En moder, which has undergone a particular geographic and transformative journey, being based on the play Alan’s wife, an English reworking of Ameen’s Swedish novel ”Befriad”. Thus, the original text left its Swedish context and returned, via England, in a new form. The three works all share the same narrative: a young woman losing her husband in a workplace accident and then giving birth to their disabled child that she later kills. This study provides historical context to these three texts and compares them with a focus on the question of motherhood. By looking at motherhood in Swedish 19th-century drama, the study unveils the social conditions placed upon the protagonist and thus her actions, which in turn captures how motherhood at the time was constructed and reflected as a subject in the arts. As to do this, the study first compares the three texts to illuminate the distinct choices the Swedish and English authors made in their versions. Following this, the debate that took place in England following the premiere of Alan’s Wife is analyzed. Finally, the endings of the three texts are compared, as this is where they differ at its most. The analysis highlights differences between the texts, which are related to their socio-geographic contexts. Religion and punishment, in particular the death penalty, are given greater prominence in the English version, whilst in the Swedish novel and play, Améen, who authors both, sticks to her own beliefs and moral guidelines.

The aim of the present study was to examine the experiences of elite athlete mothers returning to a career in team sports at the elite level after pregnancy. The study employed a qualitative research method with unstructured interviews. A total of eleven women aged between 26–37 years (M = 31.3, SD = 3.05), took part in the study. Three participants played in the OBOS Allsvenskan, five in the handball league, two in the Swedish Super League, and one in the Allsvenskan in floorball. The results revealed both unique and similar experiences regarding the study ́s purpose, resulting in four main themes: (1) challenges along the way back, (2) self-perception and the significance of sports in life, (3) meaningful support contributing to the comeback and performance in one's sport, and (4) balancing elite sports and motherhood. Pregnancy brought about challenges that were difficult to avoid, including uncertainty about how to train successfully to return to sports and both physical and mental challenges. The new role as a mother provided a new perspective on elite sports and life overall, fostering an understanding of the importance of being role models for both their children and future elite athlete mothers. Support from partners, family, and coaches played a crucial role in their journey back to sports after pregnancy. Finally, the results showed that the players successfully managed the challenges they faced, resulting in a positive continuation of their elite careers. / Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka elitidrottsmödrars upplevelser av att komma tillbaka till en elitidrottskarriär inom lagidrott efter en graviditet. I studien användes en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med ostrukturerade intervjuer. Sammanlagt deltog elva kvinnor som var mellan 26–37 år gamla (M = 31.3, SD = 3.05). Tre deltagare spelade i OBOS Allsvenskan, fem i handbollsligan, två i Svenska Superligan och en i Allsvenskan i innebandy. I resultatet framkom både unika och liknande upplevelser gällande studiens syfte, som resulterade i fyra huvudteman: (1) utmaningarna under vägen tillbaka, (2) synen på sig själv och idrottens betydelse i livet, (3) betydelsefullt stöd som bidrar till att komma tillbaka och prestera i sin idrott, och (4) att balansera elitidrott och att vara mamma. En graviditet har medfört utmaningar som varit svåra att undvika, dels en osäkerhet för hur de bör träna för att framgångsrikt komma tillbaka till idrotten igen, samt fysiska- och mentala utmaningar. Den nya rollen som mamma har skapat ett nytt perspektiv på elitidrottande och livet i helhet, vilket också skapade en förståelse kring vikten av att vara förebilder både för deras barn och framtida elitidrottande mammor. Stödet runt om spelarna, såsom partner, familj och tränare, har varit en nyckelaspekt i deras väg tillbaka till idrotten efter sin graviditet. Slutligen visade resultatet att spelarna framgångsrikt hanterade de utmaningar de ställdes inför, vilket resulterade i en positiv fortsättning på deras elitkarriär.

Despite scientific research indicating that women have unique pathways both into, and out of crime, they are still quite often an overlooked group in regards to criminal research. For society to continue supporting these women in the most optimal way, it is important to both acknowledge and dive further into the complicated factors that affect women’s processes of reformation from a criminal lifestyle. The purpose of this study was to both create an understanding of the challenges women face when wanting to put their criminal past behind them and to cement the importance of social work in this exit process. Using the exit process and gender contract as our theoretical frames we have analyzed ten semi-structured interviews with five former female criminals. The results show that motherhood is a significant factor in a woman's desistance. KRIS, a volunteer support organization, is also a crucial system in a woman’s decision to leave a criminal lifestyle. Additionally, we have found that multiple traditional expectations involved with being a woman, and a mother, are significant factors in a desire for reformation. Finally, the results indicate that engaging in activities that involve helping others is a key factor in women's journey to desistance. / Kvinnor är en ofta förbisedd målgrupp inom forskning gällande kriminalitet. Detta trots att studier pekar på att kvinnor i många fall har unika ingångar till kriminalitet och därmed följer unika vägar ut ur den. Det är viktigt att erkänna och förstå de komplexa faktorerna som påverkar deras exitprocess från brottslighet så att samhället kan hjälpa och stödja dessa kvinnor på ett fördelaktigt sätt. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att skapa en förståelse för de utmaningar som kvinnor, vilka har haft kriminalitet som livsstil, kan stå inför när de vill avsluta sin kriminella livsstil och på vilket sätt det sociala arbetet har en roll i en sådan exitprocess. Vi har med hjälp av teorierna om exitprocessen och genuskontraktet analyserat material från tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem kvinnor som tidigare levt i livsstilskriminalitet. Resultatet visar att moderskap är betydelsefullt i en kvinnas avhållsamhet, likaså har den frivilliga stödorganisationen KRIS många gånger varit ett avgörande stöd. Av resultatet kan vi även utläsa att det finns föreställningar på en kvinna och än mer på mödrar som gjort att kvinnorna försökt eller helt avhållit sig från kriminalitet. Slutligen visar resultaten att kvinnorna i studien idag jobbar med att hjälpa, vilket är viktigt för deras avhållsamhet.

The intent for this thesis is to to explore the ideologies of my grandmother and to learn from them. I do so by filming and editing a documentary with Grandma serving as my subject. She is a woman who has been very present in my life and who has lived and bestowed so much upon me that I still remain wanting more. I wish to know much more of her mind now than I did as a child of simpler times and ponderings. I have spent close to a year shooting and assembling this film that explores the nature of my grandmother and how I might learn from who she is. I do so through means of experimental and documentary conventions. I've researched the psychology of older women in a means to come to an even clearer understanding of Grandma, as well. There is perhaps an unconscious ignorance of women of older age: being that women are seen as child bearers that lower in value once you are no longer capable. My grandmother never had children of her own; she is my father's stepmother. Examining her maternal nature has brought about the question of the very definition of motherhood.

Mothers are known to have an emotional attachment to their infant; however, some mothers also experience an emotional attachment to their own milk. Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with complementary solids are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. Some mothers produce enough surplus milk to donate to a human milk bank. This thesis considers the emotional attachment to milk experienced by women who donate milk to a milk bank. This research is based on participant observation in a human milk bank in Florida and interviews collected from 14 milk bank donors. These methods were informed by the frameworks of moral motherhood and emotive value to foreground and enhance understanding of mothers' experiences. The results of this study show that mothers do not emotionally attach to breastmilk itself, but rather what the breastmilk represents. This study starts a conversation and brings awareness to women's emotional experiences at the beginning of motherhood, especially as they pertain to breastfeeding and human milk.

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