This paper utilizes poststructuralist theory to investigate the polysemic nature of the eponymous character Beloved in Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved. The ghostly, anachronistic presence of Beloved renders the text open to multiple interpretations and this essay sets out to explore the ways in which meaning is created and communicated. From a poststructuralist perspective, considering that the meaning is in a state of flux, a text weaves its system of meaning around an assumed center in order to provide so-called stability. Peripheral meanings are repressed by the center to secure the meaning system. However, the periphery, which has a constructive function in the organization of the text, also has the deconstructive potential. Hence, the deconstructive dynamics are already inherent in the text. In Beloved, Toni Morrison addresses, among other things, the act of speaking the unspeakable and the process of constructing a new subjectivity out of the ghost of the past. Her text deconstructs the dominant narratives that have marginalized the black motherhood experience, explores the horrors of slavery through horror elements, and eventually exposes the inadequacy of language to depict such horrors. While the textual periphery is enabled to speak louder than the center, the textual subconscious flows freely. The reader is forced to participate actively in meaning-making in order to make sense of the fragmented narrative imbued with deliberate ambiguity. Beloved, as the abject other, defies the phallogocentric symbolic order. A counter-discourse emerges from the maternal, semiotic chora and empowers the otherized heroine Sethe to construct her subjectivity. Delving into the interrelationship between traumatic memory and the act of creating one’s own narrative, the text finds reparative elements in ancestral connection and thereby blends the psychological with the historical and the micro-level with the macro-level of meaning. This paper employs deconstructive key concepts from Jacques Derrida, psychoanalytic key concepts from Julia Kristeva, and seeks to unravel the dynamics in Morrison’s text that enable Beloved to be read polysemically.

The topic of this work is a comparison of the perception of family policy and its tools from the perspective of mothers of 3 generations. We are interested in how these women evaluate family policy and its tools during their pregnancy and motherhood, as well as its changes over time. The aim of the thesis is to find out the perception of selected mothers during their motherhood from the point of view of social policy instruments that respond to the needs of motherhood, from the point of view of ways the state supports motherhood, from the point of view of perception of time course of motherhood and social view of mother and family. Based on the research goals, we set 3 main research questions. 1) How has the perception of motherhood within family life changed in the perspective of mothers from 3 generations? 2) Has the change in social policy instruments supporting families been reflected in the perspective of mothers from 3 generations? 3) How do mothers from 3 different generations perceive changes in family policy over time? At the beginning of our research, research preparation is carried out, mainly with the help of professional literature. The research itself is carried out using the focus group method with mothers from 3 generations, which are divided into 3 time categories for better...

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In this thesis, I investigate the German-speaking attachment-oriented parenting community on Instagram. Focusing on a debate about new-right activities in the community, I analyze how motherhood (self-)conceptions were discursively entangled with questions of resistance to and tolerance of the new right. Two questions guide my thesis: 1) How was attachment-oriented motherhood conceptualized in the debate? How were these con-ceptions classed and racialized? 2) How did the community produce openness for the appropriation by the new right? How did the community resist appropriation? To answer these questions, I conduct a critical discourse analysis of 45 Instagram posts and their comment sections. My thesis is grounded in motherhood theories, in particular Hays’s intensive mothering, and theories that take seriously the intersectionality of powerstructures. I also refer to Skeggs’s theory on gender, class, and respectability, and workon whiteness and femininity Ahmed and Shome. I find diverse conceptions of attachment-oriented motherhood that differed with regard to their resistance to and reinforcement of intensive motherhood and far-right ideologies. Resistant motherhood concepts sought collective action and mobilized mothers’responsibility for the opposition against the new right. Investment in the respectability of attachment-oriented motherhood on the other hand obstructed the discussion about new-right activities, diverting attention away from politics. Concepts of motherhood from New-Age community members not only tolerated far-right ideology, but at times even reproduced it, in particular in the concept of conspiritual motherhood.

Building on previous feminist literary criticism of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (1854-55), this essay analyses the portrayal of wives and mothers in the novel from an intersectional feminist perspective. It examines how the narrative shows that gender and economic status or class intersect to create varied representations of Victorian women's marginalisation. The analysis argues that the novel, on the one hand, depicts wives and mothers as united by their status at "the other" in patriarchal Victorian society. On the other hand, the novel juxtaposes economically privileged and poor wives and mothers to show that they are not equally isolated, powerless, or willing to comply with Victorian gender roles. The result is a complex and empathetic portrayal of wives and mothers' privilege and poverty under patriarchy, which challenges the Victorian ideal of wives and mothers as "angels in the house".

The aim of this study is to analyse how women talk about their breasts, how their breasts affect their orientations in the world as well as how their relationship to their breasts changes throughout life. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with eight white and heterosexual cisgender women between the ages of 23-64 years old. The main theoretical frameworks for the study are phenomenology and the life schedule. The interpretational work has been conducted through thematic analysis.  The study shows how the women meet different expectations and ideals connected to their breasts throughout their lives. The heteronormative life schedule is relevant for understanding how these experiences are formed. Starting from the women´s entry into puberty and when they develop breasts, their place in the world changes. The breasts bear a strong meaning for how the women in the study construct themselves as sexual beings as well as heterosexual subjects. The meaning of the breasts is generally mirrored against the male desire. The relationship to their own breasts is formed by ideals of normative breasts which shape their experience of having breasts. The ideals are perceived as more intense during younger years, whereas age is a way of negotiating the meaning of the breasts. The empirical material show that the meaning of the breasts changes with the different stages of life but always plays a vital part in the women’s orientation and how they perceive themselves in their everyday life.

The purpose of this study was to explore how social institutions in South Africa and Zimbabwe respond to the mainstreaming of pregnant learners in formal education. A case study was used as the strategy of inquiry. Utilising a phenomenological, social constructivist and interpretivist lens and guided by a theoretical framework of action science theory, this exploratory qualitative study set out to investigate and compare how various stakeholders in South Africa and Zimbabwe respond to the policy of mainstreaming pregnant learners in schools. Data collection methods took the form of focus group and key participant semi-structured interviews, document analysis and a researcher observation and reflective journal. Two research sites comprised the case study. The sample at each of the identified sites consisted of 12 pregnant and former pregnant learners; 12 mainstream learners; 6 parents/legal guardians; 6 teachers; 6 community representatives on the school governing body. Data analysis consisted of a mix of hermeneutic, content and discourse analysis. Three findings emanated from this study. First, the socio-cultural beliefs, norms, practices and expectations of the community about pregnancy and ideal motherhood were more influential governing variables to educational access and participation of pregnant teenagers than the official school policy. Second, educators at both sites were found to have inadequate capacity to assist pregnant learners with schooling. Third, the South African school was found to provide more access to pregnant learners because of the more liberal and open response to teenage pregnancy. In contrast the conservative tendency to conceal the problem was observed at the Zimbabwean site. This study revealed that institutional policies that do not take into consideration the social, cultural and lived experiences of the relevant stakeholders are difficult to implement. The proposition is that there is usually a split between policy and practice, and that policy can be nothing more than political symbolism. An all-inclusive and consultative approach to policy formulation processes is recommended as an intervention strategy that could be used to counteract the problem. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Thesis(M.A. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo / Early motherhood has been associated with negative biological and social outcomes in the developing world of the teenage mother and child. The study sought to explore the psychological health of teenage mothers from selected secondary schools in Seshego Township, Limpopo Province. Generally, the study makes use of a comparative design and 120 participants were selected for the study consisting of 60 teenage mothers and 60 teenage non-mothers. The psychological health of teenage mothers was compared to the psychological health of teenage non-mothers. The study made use of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) with only three demographic questions, which was given to both teenage mothers and teenage non–mothers. The results of the study show that there was no significant difference in the psychological health of teenage mothers and teenage non–mothers. Results also showed that there was no significant difference on the sub-scales of somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and depression. Results of teenage mothers were compared to one another, and this comparison also showed that there was no significant difference within this group. Also results on age, grade and family structure showed no significant difference between the two groups compared to one another. Given the literature that exists worldwide showing that teenage motherhood can have negative impacts on mothers, particularly social and economic, but also physical and psychological health, it is clear that further research in this area needs to be conducted.

The movement Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos; a transnational social movement uniting Central American mothers from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua whose children have disappeared in Mexico while migrating to the US, is part of a Latin American tradition where a mother-centered kinship system is at the center. The movement has managed to reunite more than 300 families. The concept of motherhood is important in forming the identity of this particular movement, when making their voices heard in the public sphere to find their disappeared children, fight for migrants rights and for social change. In what ways does the concept of motherhood influence the Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos’s struggle and communication for social change? How does the movement’s use of motherhood as a primary identity marker contribute to or hinder the movement's struggle for human rights and development?  To explore these questions we have collected data primarily through semi-structured interviews with members of the movement. We have also included other material such as recorded meetings, articles and videos for the contextual data in our content analysis. Our theoretical framework spans from more general theories on social movements and transnational movements to post-colonial theories on feminism and development, especially the Women Culture Development Approach (Bhavnani et al. 2016). Theories that concern cultural trauma and collective identity are also included since these are of specific relevance to the particular social movement of our case study.  We found that besides spreading awareness on the widespread issues of migration and enforced disappearances, the movement is contributing to both gender autonomy and empowerment for the mothers of the Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos. In the process of joining the movement many women undergo a journey from being a victim in mourning to becoming a social activist who encourages the engagement of even more women in social change initiatives. This in turn has long lasting effects on social change in their home countries. Unfortunately, we found that since their male spouses often are not part of this process, when returning home many mothers experience a backlash in terms of gender equality.

This study explores how motherhood is depicted in Margaret Atwood’s and Louis Lowry’s dystopian novels The Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver. It examines the negative social and psychological consequences of forced surrogacy in the novels’ state-constructed nuclear families, looking closely at a lack of maternal love and care. Using feminist and psychoanalytic criticism, this essay examines the link between the broken connection of mother and child and the protagonists’ search for maternal love in other relationships. It contrasts the protagonists’ rebellion to the social backlash effect and shows how motherhood emerges as a form of resistance against the social engineering of the dystopian societies.