The Motherhood Project: Introduction

Hello, I am Sreya Mukherjee, a curious and paradoxical woman with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I have always wondered what my purpose on Earth might be because I firmly believe that I have been assigned a greater purpose that has to be fulfilled before I exhaust my limited time on earth. Then while writing a research paper for my post-grad course work, I had an epiphany which made me realize that I want to work on motherhood studies/maternal feminism (the paper that I was writing was on mother-daughter relationship in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale). I am trying to get enrolled in a PhD program but even if my application doesn’t get selected by any of the universities I have decided that I will work as an independent researcher on maternal feminism, because this not only endows me with a sense of purpose but also, more importantly makes me feel happy and fulfilled.

            Though feminism had always been especially close to my heart, yet I had never ventured into the specialized field of maternal feminism. Rather, I must confess that I had never spared any thought to motherhood, mothering and mother, i.e. her myriad subjectivity and identity. It is strange that I am planning to dedicate my life to the study of a field that had hitherto gone unnoticed by me, but this is not to say that this field had not elicited my interest. I think the reason of this ‘not noticing’ might be the fact that women’s studies and particularly maternal feminism is still striving to gain legitimacy in the mainstream academia. As I ventured into this research project I was amazed and also pleased to find that there is a plethora of scholarship on motherhood studies, but I had never before come across any theoretical work of motherhood studies during my academic programs, and I must mention here that I have been a passionate and thoroughly invested student of literature. As Adrienne Rich had said, “We know more about the air we breath, the seas we travel, than about the nature and meaning of motherhood.” Though in 2021, there is no dearth of scholarship on different aspects of motherhood, but I feel the field has not yet gained legitimacy or ‘nod of approval’ from the patriarchs of academia, and that is why this field still remains hidden or off the limits from the intellectual radar of most of the students.

            Honestly, at this point I have no idea where my project will lead me to or what is the objective of this research. At present, I am solely focusing on discovering the scholarly and creative works that constitute this field of maternal feminism, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. However, I have a vague intimation that further down the line I will want to focus on motherhood and mothering in ‘third world countries’ mostly through literature. And I have initiated this online journaling of my research journey mostly to maintain a tab on my learning process, record my own observations and also to share my experiences and journey with anyone who is or who might be interested in motherhood studies. I hope I can see through this intellectual journey with as much enthusiasm as that with which I have ventured into this unknown terrain of experiential and intellectual knowledge.