Academic Mothering: Fabulating Futures for Higher Education

Contents
Foreword: Of the Passing of COVID: A Motherscholar’s Lamentation Isn’t Sad
Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
	1 Mothering as Academics: Pasts, Presents, and Futures
	2 Mothering and the COVID-19 Pandemic
	3 About the Book
	4 Feminist Fabulations
	5 The Book’s Organization: From Roots to Blooms
		5.1 Mothering as Practice
		5.2 Mothering and Precarity
		5.3 Mothering as Relational
		5.4 Kinder Futures
	6 Coda
	References
Part 1: Mothering as Practice
	1. Mothering in the Dirt: Kenning Self and Kin
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Mothering in the Dirt: Kenning Self and Kin
		2 A Route/Root Called Routes/Roots
		3 A Route/Root Called Making (a Cutting)
		4 A Root/Route Called Cleaving
		5 A Root/Route Called Histories
		6 A Root/Route Called Ken (Verb)
		7 A Root/Route Called Cutting Together-Apart
		8 A Root/Route Called Mothering: Taking Liberties with Wor(l)ds
		9 A Route/Root That Never Ends
		Notes
		References
	2. The Other Mothers: No, Not the Ugly Stepmothers or the Fairy Godmothers…the Teacher Mothers
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Introduction
		2 The Invisible Monster and Frozen Land
		3 The Other Monster
		4 Imagining a Happy Ending
		References
	3. Sources of Hope into, through & beyond Academic Mothering during the Pandemic
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Home Isolation, Day 42
		2 Nouning, March 2020
		3 “She’s Nice So Someone Will Want Her”
		4 Precarity and Theories Related to Poetry, Covid, and Academic Motherhood
		5 Forties Still Life with Two Small Children
		6 There Are Things I Don’t Do Anymore
		7 Asking Tough Questions & Listening for Tough Answers
		8 Making Sense of White Male Rage
		9 Knowledge on the Vaccine (Prose Poem)
		10 Fake News
		Notes
		References
	4. A Graphic Representation of Parenting in the Pandemic: Borders, Binaries, and Boundaries
Part 2: Mothering in Precarity
	5. Rejecting Good Mother: Becoming Otherwise in Precarity
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Rejecting Good Mother: Becoming Otherwise in Precarity
		2 Unknowing and Where We Know From
		3 On Subjectivity, Intersectionality, and Assemblage
		4 Speculating Presents (Presence)
		Notes
		References
	6. “I’m Not Your Superwoman”: An Exploration of the Strong Black Woman Trope and How It Affected
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Introduction
		2 The Strong Black Woman Trope
		3 Recreating My Story
			3.1 The Journals, Reflections, and Story
		4 Emotional Rollercoaster
			4.1 Guilt, Fear, and Being the “Responsible” One
			4.2 A Strange Combination of Affirmation, Exhaustion, and Anger
		5 Why Does This Matter?
		Notes
		References
	7. The Miscarrying Mother
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 The Call
		2 Introduction
		3 Too-Much-Ness
		4 Interviewing the Self
		5 Self-Interview Transcript
		6 The Too-Much-Ness of Miscarriage
		7 Conclusion
		Notes
		References
	8. Compelled to Care: Academic Work in a Mother-Fucking Dystopian Hellscape
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Introduction
		2 Sam
		3 Morgan
		4 The College
		5 Gala
		6 Epilogue
		Notes
		References
Part 3: Mothering as Relational
	9. Gifts and Grief: Poetic Ruminations on Academic Mothering during the COVID-19 Pandemic
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Shelter-in-Place
		2 Grace
		3 Too Much
		4 75 Days
		5 Lost and found
		6 Peculiar
		7 Imposter Syndrome
		8 Willful2
		9 Awe
		10 Tensions
		11 Space
		12 Futuring
		Notes
		Reference
	10. Queer Mothering in Academia as Pandemic Preparation: A Dialogue between QueerMotherScholarFriend
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Introduction
		Note
		References
	11. Mothering and Working across Difference: Intergenerational Conversations on Living
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 Mothering and Working across Difference: Intergenerational Conversations on Living with Uncertainty
		References
	12. And These Things Are Good
		Abstract
		Keywords
		1 And These Things Are Good
		2 The Care/FUL Care/GIVER
		3 Home/SICK
		4 Touch
		References
Epilogue
	1 How Might We Envision a Kinder and More Equitable Future for Mothers in Academia?
	2 Concrete Steps toward a Kinder Academia
		2.1 Policies Should Be Transparent, Clearly Communicated, and Equitably Applied
		2.2 Formal and Informal Mentorship Efforts
		2.3 Moving Forward
	References
Index