鈥淥ver the last 25 years, the topic of motherhood has emerged as a central and significant topic of scholarly inquiry across a wide range of academic disciplines. A cursory review of motherhood research reveals that hundreds of scholarly articles have been published on almost every motherhood theme imaginable,鈥� says O鈥橰eilly, who coined the term "motherhood studies" to acknowledge and demarcate motherhood scholarship as a聽legitimate and distinctive discipline.

"Indeed, similar to the development of women studies as an academic field in the 1970s, motherhood studies, while explicitly interdisciplinary, has emerged an autonomous and independent scholarly discipline in the last decade," she says. "This intellectual tradition of maternal scholarship both made possible and created the need for an encylopedia on motherhood."

Founder and director of the newly formed (developed from the former Association for Research on Mothering at 91亚色), O'Reilly approached contributors and compiled articles by some 300 women scholars throughout the United States, Canada and beyond for the book.

The , the first scholarly reference devoted to the subject, covers a vast array of topics, including how the study of motherhood is almost completely ignored in archeology, mothers in popular culture, hip mamas, influential maternal theorists, the economics of motherhood, psychoanalysis, fertility, guilt, ecofeminism, refugees and the future of mothering. The encyclopedia touches on mothers, and what it means to be a mother in almost every country. It also looks at mothers in film, books, art and poetry, as well as in the Bible.

鈥淭he publication is for me a significant moment in motherhood scholarships as it confirms that motherhood has indeed arrived as a legitimate and distinct academic discipline and scholarly field." says O'Reilly. "As well, the encyclopedia, in bringing together for the first time over 700聽motherhood topics from A to Z, from aboriginal mothering to zines, and in providing a detailed summary and a bibliography for each topic, is an invaluable resource for anyone 鈥撀爏tudents, journalists, writers, researchers, community agencies 鈥撀爄n need of an overview of a particular motherhood topic and/or interested in doing further research on聽the subject matter.鈥�

Left: Andrea O'Reilly

The book聽delves into the anthropology of mothering, a discussion on advice literature for mothers, a chronology of motherhood and mother activists. It explores the concept of bad mothering, absentee mothers, alcoholism, ethics, HIV/AIDS, race, slavery, lesbian and bisexual mothers, breastfeeding and more. In addition, it examines terms, concepts, themes, debates, theories and texts of motherhood within history, geography and academia.

To O鈥橰eilly (BA Hons.聽'85, MA '87, PhD '96), the publication of the encyclopedia is like the coming of age of mothering research. The scholarship of motherhood has been legitimized and recognized, she says.

She introduces the Encyclopedia of Motherhood with a quote from author Adrienne Rich: 鈥淲e know more about the air we breathe, the seas we travel, than about the nature and meaning of motherhood.鈥� And that is exactly what O鈥橰eilly hopes the encyclopedia will change, that it will provide a glimpse into all things associated with and to mothering.聽The publication of the encyclopedia demarcates motherhood as an academic discipline and points to the future.

O鈥橰eilly is the author of and . She is also the editor of 14 collections.

For more information, visit the Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post From Roman times to today, covered in one mother of a book appeared first on Research & Innovation.

When Andrea O鈥橰eilly received a call from a publisher expressing interest in an encyclopedia on motherhood, she knew her field of expertise had finally arrived.

O鈥橰eilly, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Women鈥檚 Studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and founder of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI), has dedicated her career to the study of motherhood and having it recognized as a legitimate topic of scholarly inquiry.

This month her Encyclopedia of Motherhood was released by Sage Press 鈥� a 1,500-page, three-volume collection featuring 700 entries on just about every aspect of the complex topic.

But it still remains a 鈥渟idebar鈥� subject, she added, even in women鈥檚 studies departments. 鈥淲hat isn鈥檛 really happening is motherhood is still not being taught in the mainstream courses, so it鈥檚 still being kind of ghettoized,鈥� she said.

An academic examination of motherhood didn鈥檛 exist when O鈥橰eilly worked to earn her PhD in English at 91亚色, she said, and that prompted her to design a course dedicated solely to the subject in 1990 鈥� the first of its kind in Canada.

The complete article is .

The Toronto Star also interviewed O'Reilly for an :

Until recently, motherhood didn鈥檛 qualify as a subject worthy of scholarly study. The collective voice of mothers is seldom heard in ivory towers or corridors of power, or in the discussion of policies that affect us all.

鈥淭he minute you鈥檙e a mother, you鈥檙e aware of the absence,鈥� says Andrea O鈥橰eilly, 49, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Women鈥檚 Studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. 鈥淢otherhood is the blind spot.鈥� She wanted to change that.

In 1991, O鈥橰eilly developed Canada鈥檚 first university course on motherhood, at 91亚色. The Internet was in its infancy. Supermom was taking flight. Women were thrashing around with work and children, resigned to exhaustion following 鈥渢he second shift.鈥�

Feminist writers and scholars were exploring motherhood, but often in isolation.

O鈥橰eilly, who has three children, tapped into a hunger for research, debate and a grassroots community, along with the desire to reconcile feminism with mothering when the two were often at odds.

She held a conference, and was shocked when it attracted 150 researchers and academics from around the world. In 1998, she founded the Association for Research on Mothering, the first of its kind. It took on a life of its own.

Its journal, exploring everything from poverty to mothers in pop culture, popped up on university reading lists across the country and abroad.

Then came a publication division. Demeter Press has released 10 books, including one on mommy blogging and another called Mother Knows Best: Talking Back to the Experts, which challenged conventional parenting advice.

Earlier this year, mounting debt forced ARM, which had space at 91亚色 but never received operating funding, to close its doors. The university acknowledged the association鈥檚 renown and 550 paying members but would not provide funds.

This month, following a groundswell of support from researchers in 15 countries, including Australia, Brazil and Spain, the association was reborn as an independent organization. The new will be funded through memberships, sales of its publications, grants and fundraising, including a literary fundraiser in Toronto on May 21.

The complete article is available on .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor publishes new encyclopedia on motherhood appeared first on Research & Innovation.