Annual Academic MOM Conference, NYC 2019: Rewriting Trauma

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REWRITING TRAUMA & VISIBILITY

Motherwork, Pregnancy, and Birth

Manhattan College
Bronx, NY
APRIL 5-6 2019

The MOM Conference 2019 is sponsored by the Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center and the Manhattan College Department of Sociology

Calling all sociologists, women’s, sexuality, and gender scholars, masculinity studies scholars, birth-workers, doctors, maternal psychologists, motherhood and fatherhood scholars, artists, performers: This conference call for papers focuses on uncovering, naming and rewriting traumas of motherwork, pregnancy and birth. We especially aim to make visible those topics related to (dis)abilities and other marginalized positionalities, relying on Patricia Hill Collins’ conceptualization of motherwork as mothering that is designed for the survival and success of the next generation in the context of oppression. We recognize traumas in multiple forms, originating before, during, and after pregnancy and birth and throughout motherhood, contextualized by the intersectional identities of those traumatized. We encourage presenters to unpack the sociocultural domain and the medicalized environment within which traumas often occur, embracing and analyzing meaning-making, as Barbara Katz Rothman and others would have us do, in the areas of maternal health and well-being.

We intend the conference to serve as a site of resistance as we reframe and reconstruct the landscape of embodied trauma within motherwork, pregnancy and birth and the ongoing labor of mothers and caregivers everywhere. We recognize the scale, variance, and duration of trauma and hope to support and empower those who most need it.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

Intersectional identities as the context of motherwork, pregnancy and birth traumas

Motherwork, pregnancy and birthing with (dis-)abilities, illness, and children with special needs

Biomedical and cultural discourses of motherwork, pregnancy, and birth, including issues related to marginalized identities, fertility treatment, gender, and intersex identities
Normative constructions of gender in motherwork, pregnancy and birthing

Child and maternal psychology interventions, alternative therapies, and results

Breastfeeding ambivalences, obstacles, and outcomes

Future wombs, including transplants, artificial constructions, cloning, and surrogacy

Art as healing and activism as visible resistance
Embodied resistance to socially constructed proscriptions and conventions about motherwork, pregnancy, and birth, especially as contextualized within marginalized positionalities

Narratives surrounding:

High-risk pregnancies, pregnancy-related illnesses, and birthing complications
Cesarean Section, Episiotomy and other Obstetric Violence
Stillbirths or Therapeutic Terminations
Pregnancy loss, Alternative Therapies, and Healing

Individuals conducting research, making art, working in hospital or alternative birth settings, and presentations by mothers, family members, and students as well as auto-ethnographic perspectives are welcome

All submissions for this conference should be considered for submission to the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS), an academic, peer-reviewed journal devoted to Mother Studies. You may also submit for the conference only if you wish. Abstracts must include a title and 50-150 words for individual papers, panels, and other submission types (e.g. performance, media, music). Go to MOMmuseum.org and look for the “Conference Submissions” tab or submit a word doc. to info@MOMmuseum.org by Dec. 1

The international MOM Conference is an annual event that features research, scholarship, and creative collaboration in the area of Mother Studies. Each year, the academic committee organizes university experiences that are interdisciplinary and highlight scholarship in the area of reproductive justice, maternal health, feminist theory, gender studies, literature, and the arts. The conference is organized through the Museum Of Motherhood (M.O.M.) and has partnered with multiple institutions throughout the years (2005-present), including Manhattan College, USF Tampa, Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia, ProCreate Project, Mamapalooza, and ARM now renamed MIRCI to name a few.

DOWNLOAD_CFP_MOM_Con_2019_PDF

Hello From Cortney – M.O.M.’s Spring Semester 2018 Intern

Hello,

My name is Cortney Roquemore. I am a senior at the University of South Florida St.Petersburg. I major in psychology. I am proudly doing my spring internship at (M.O.M.). (Museum Of Motherhood). M.O.M. is not just a museum, but it’s an empowering facility that shares the “information and education about the art, history, and science of motherhood from an international perspective.” My duty as an intern is to cultivate new relationships with people, institutions, and scholars in the St. Petersburg community. I will be inviting students from USF to come to M.O.M. for tours as well as utilizing social media to let people in the community know about this new incredible resource. I will also be learning about grant writing and crowdfunding for non-profits.

During the month of January, I will alphabetize and organize the library including the Demeter Collection of books and learn how to add resources to the museum’s scholarly collection. I will be adding this data to Excel. In February, I being my community outreach. The first week in February I will speak with some of my former professors and invite small groups of students (5 at a time) to come and tour the Museum. I will set up a schedule for this. On February 9^th, I attend the Tampa Bay Breastfeeding Coalition where the director of the museum, Martha Joy Rose is presenting on the topic of racial disparities with regard to the visibility of breastfeeding in the public arena. Then, on Feb. 16^th and 17^th I will be helping out with the Annual Academic M.O.M. Conference. This conference, recently renamed the I :> M.O.M. Conference is in its second year in St. Petersburg. This year’s conference is going to be held on the USF campus in collaboration with the Women’s and Gender Studies Department of USF and made possible in part by a ResearchOne grant. This promises to be an exciting start to February.

After the conference is over, I will be learning all about how to lead tours of M.O.M. Then, I will be interacting with students who visit from USF (as well as the general public).

When March arrives, I will also be turning my attention to the business side of the museum and learning more about how a non-profit organization is properly managed. March 15^th I will be attending a Greenhouse workshop (available for free through the city of St. Pete), on fundraising called “SPAA –Grant Writing/Development Research” from 8:30AM- 10:30 with Ms. Rose. On March 22^nd I will participate in another workshop with Ms. Rose from 6:30-8:30PM on “How to be Successful Via Crowdfunding.” In between these workshops, I will be identifying one specific project we hope to raise money for.

April will be a good opportunity for me to synthesize the skills I’ve acquired after getting familiar with M.O.M.’s library and exhibition resources, leading tours, and participating in multiple workshops and events. I will use the remainder of my internship to work with Ms. Rose remotely (via e-mail and Skype) on fundraising initiatives for one museum project as well as curating and promoting social media initiatives. I will actually write one grant and create an online Crowdfunding campaign. My internship requirement is 120 hours. By working on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-5 or 6 PM (4-5 hours depending on the week, plus special events), I will easily be able to fulfill this mandate. This internship will help me form good working skills. I will have the opportunity to interact with my community. Most importantly, I get to learn more about the psychological aspects of motherhood!!