“Good Mothers”, Nations and Nationalisms

Yulia Gradskova, Ieva Bisigirskaite, Soheyla Yazdanpanah

“Good Mothers”, Nations and Nationalisms

Cases from Lithuania, Russia and Sweden

This book explores constructions of the “good mother” within diverse nations and nationalisms, focusing on three contexts grappling with distinct forms of “demographic anxiety.” Inspired by Sara Farris’ inquiry into femonationalism and utilizing “maternalism” and “politics of care” as critical theoretical instruments, the book analyses the evolving political and social expectations imposed upon mothers in Lithuania, migrant mothers, including postsocialist migrant mothers from Central Asia and Caucasus in Sweden, and women in the militarizing authoritarian Russian state’s construction of maternity within its “traditional values” agenda. It also probes both how “good motherhood” is enacted and contested by individual mothers, as well as how it is mobilized in resisting conservative, ethnonationalist tendencies and militarism (in the case of Russia). The book’s chapters illuminate the roles of political and social actors engaged with renegotiating materialist politics—such as grassroots birth activist movements and maternalist social policy campaigns—as well as those defying militarism.
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Auteurs

Yulia Gradskova

Yulia Gradskova is Associate Professor in History, Södertörn University, Sweden. Her research interests include postsocialist gender history, transnational history and women’s internationalism during the Cold War as well as decolonial perspective on Soviet politics of emancipation of “woman of the East”. She is the author of East-South Women’s Internationalist at the Cold War Periphery (Bloomsbury 2025); The Women’s International Democratic Federation, the Global South and the Cold War. Defending the Rights of Women of the ‘Whole World’? (Routledge 2021) and of Soviet Politics of Emancipation of Ethnic Minority Women. Natsionalka (Springer, 2018) and co-editor of several books.

Ieva Bisigirskaite

Ieva Bisigirskait. is a Research Fellow and a Lecturer at Vilnius University. Her research focuses on the intersection of feminist sociolinguistics, critical motherhood studies, nationalism, and maternal activism, as well as queer onomastics within post-socialist contexts. She earned her doctorate in Gender Studies and Eastern European Studies from the University of Zurich (2020) with her dissertation “Choosing a surname of her own: non(neo)-traditional femininities in contemporary Lithuania.”

Soheyla Yazdanpanah

Soheyla Yazdanpanah is a Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at Södertörn University and holds a PhD in Economic History from Stockholm University. Her research focuses on inequalities in the context of livelihood, working life, and migration. With particular attention to marginalized group of women’s living and working conditions, she investigates how economic, social, and cultural processes generate and reproduce inequality—especially through the intersections of gender, class, and race/ethnicity in Sweden.
Titel
“Good Mothers”, Nations and Nationalisms
Subtitel
Cases from Lithuania, Russia and Sweden
Auteurs
Prijs
€ 129,00 excl. BTW
ISBN
9789048575749
Uitvoering
Hardback
Aantal pagina's
278
Taal
Engels
Publicatiedatum
Afmetingen
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Categorieën
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Political Science
Sociology and Social History
Discipline
Social and Political Sciences
Imprint
Inhoudsopgave
Toon inhoudsopgaveVerberg inhoudsopgave
About the Authors
List of Abbreviations
List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. “Good Motherhood” in a Time of “Demographic Anxieties” and Femonationalisms. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Mothers We Care For and Mothers We Care About: Redefining “Good Motherhood” through Maternal Activism in Contemporary Lithuania
Chapter 3. “Preservation of the Nation Needs Women’s Care”: Authoritarianism, “Demographic Anxiety,” and Mediated Religion in the Russian Federation
Chapter 4. The Femonationalist Political Narrative on Migrant Mothers in Sweden
Chapter 5. Being a “Good Mother”: Navigating “National” Motherhood Ideals and Realities among Post-Socialist (Muslim) Migrant Mothers
Chapter 6. Femonationalism, Militarism, and Resistances to Authoritarian “Good Motherhood” in Russia
Afterword
Bibliography
Appendices
Index