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Project

Project type/Form of grant
Project grant
Title [sv]
Mamma hursomhelst. Litterära, vårdrelaterade och mediala berättelser
Title [en]
Mother anyway: Literary, Medical and Media Narratives
Abstract [en]
What does motherhood mean today in a society with an advanced but negotiated welfare system? The question is intimately related to notions of gender equality and welfare regimes, and the aim of the project is to examine multiple narratives with Sweden as a case study. Key research questions are: What does motherhood mean in a welfare state within a global context? When, how and why is motherhood described as disenabling or empowering for women? The dominant discourse today references middle-class, ethnic Swedes and is accompanied by the image of the dedicated mother immersed in caring for her child. It renders invisible other maternity standards that reflect contemporary transformations. Factors such as diverse family structures and contradictory notions about whether and how to be a mother need to be recognized. A wide range of sources will be examined, such as literary fiction, patient narratives, life writing, autobiography, and web-based blogs. The project involves collaboration between researchers in literature, medicine,and gender studies. The interdisciplinary design enables methodological and theoretical border-crossings. The literary scholars will have access to authentic, narrated experiences by female patients. The medical scientists will incorporate cultural, narratological and gender perspectives into their analyses.
Publications (1 of 1) Show all publications
Williams, A. (2021). 'My Mother Laughs, but She Never Smiles': Children, Mothers, and Migration in Contemporary Swedish Literature and Life Writing. In: Helena Wahlström Henriksson; Klara Goedecke (Ed.), Close Relations: Family, Kinship, and Beyond (pp. 121-136). Singapore: Springer
Open this publication in new window or tab >>'My Mother Laughs, but She Never Smiles': Children, Mothers, and Migration in Contemporary Swedish Literature and Life Writing
2021 (English)In: Close Relations: Family, Kinship, and Beyond / [ed] Helena Wahlström Henriksson; Klara Goedecke, Singapore: Springer, 2021, p. 121-136Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

The essay examines five contemporary Swedish narratives about migration and identity from the perspective of the relationship between mothers and children. Children of immigrant parents try to come to terms with their identity by exploring their family history, which often includes refugees and involuntary migration. A recurrent point of departure is the drive to tell stories that are marginalized in the majority culture, emphasizing challenging circumstances such as culture clashes and contested ideologies. The narratives delineate how motherhood is negotiated in different cultures and environments, and the essay examines the depiction of connections and confrontations between generations in a multicultural society. The analysis uses theories on motherhood, migration, kinship and gender, and deals with narratives by Evin Ahmad, Delvin Arsan, Mustafa Can, Negra Efendić and Duraid Al-Khamisi.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Singapore: Springer, 2021
Series
Crossroads of Knowledge, ISSN 2197-9634, E-ISSN 2197-9642
Keywords
contemporary Swedish literature, motherhood, narratives, migration, gender, assimilation
National Category
General Literature Studies International Migration and Ethnic Relations
Research subject
Literature
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-460985 (URN)10.1007/978-981-16-0792-9_8 (DOI)978-981-16-0791-2 (ISBN)978-981-16-0794-3 (ISBN)978-981-16-0792-9 (ISBN)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2016-01602
Available from: 2021-12-10 Created: 2021-12-10 Last updated: 2025-12-05Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorWilliams, Anna
Coordinating organisation
Uppsala University
Funder
Period
2017-01-01 － 2019-12-31
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and EpidemiologyGeneral Literature Studies
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:5574Project, id: 2016-01602_VR
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