Bad Mothers: Regulations, Representations, and Resistance

357 Pages·2017·6.651 MB·English

by  Michelle Hughes Miller, Tamar Hager, Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich

BAD MOTHERS
REGULATIONS, REPRESENTATIONS,
AND RESISTANCE
Copyright © 2017 Demeter Press
Individual copyright to their work is retained by the authors. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means
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Financé par la gouvernement du Canada
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Printed and Bound in Canada
Front cover artwork: Freddie Robins, “Bad Mother,” 2013, machine knitted
wool, machine knitted lurex, expanding foam, broken knitting needles, glass
beads, sequins, dress pins, crystal beads on an oak and maple wood shelf, 780 x
160 x 160 mm. In Private Collection. Photograph: Douglas Atfield.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bad mothers (2017)
Bad mothers : regulations, representations, and resistance / edited by
Michelle Hughes Miller, Tamar Hager, and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-77258-103-4 (softcover)
1. Motherhood—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Mothers—Conduct of
life. 3. Mothers—Social conditions. I. Miller, Michelle Hughes, 1963-,
author, editor II. Hager, Tamar, 1960–, author, editor III. Bromwich,
Rebecca, author, editor IV. Title.
HQ759.B185 2017 306.874’3 C2017-901047-6
BAD MOTHERS
REGULATIONS, REPRESENTATIONS,
AND RESISTANCE
edited by
Michelle Hughes Miller, Tamar Hager,
and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich
demeter press

To mothers whose identities have been harmed and
judged harshly, whose mothering has been devalued, and
whose motherhood has been colonized, questioned,
or negated. You’ve had a daunting responsibility, and
our social world should have done better by you.
From Michelle
To Kiri and Finley: thank you for holding me
accountable to authenticity. Being your mother has been
the greatest joy of my life.
From Tamar
To my daughters Naomi and Shira, with the hope that
they will not have to be subject to such maternal surveillance.

From Rebecca
For my mother, and my daughters Helaina, Andromeda,
and Myrina, and my son Desmond, and for Matt:
may they know they are enough and are good enough.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
xi
introduction
The Bad Mother, in Relief
Michelle Hughes Miller, Tamar Hager,
and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich
1
i: the legal and regulatory landscape
Arctic Motherwork
Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich
22
Still Wearing Scarlet? Discursive Figures of the
Unfit Mother as Pervasive Phantoms Active in Governing
Mothers through Ontario’s Child Protection Regime
Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich
26
Manufacturing Ideologies of the “Bad” Mother:
Aboriginal Mothering, “Neglectful” Caregiving, and Symbolic
Violence in the Ontario Child Welfare System
Mandi Veenstra and Marlee Keenan
48
vii
bad mothers
Mothering in Prison: The Case of Spain’s
New External Mother Units
Sophie Feintuch
73
ii: medicalization as social control
Mea Culpa
Noa Arad Yairi
100
“Bad Mothers” and the hiv/aids Epidemic in
Saskatchewan, Canada
Pamela J. Downe
103
The Risky Mother:The Medicalization of Mothering
Alexandra Campbell
121
Hospital Archive
Rela Mazali
146
Fat Blame and Fat Shame:
A Failure of Maternal Responsibility
Kelsey Ioannoni
157
iii: cultural representations of bad mothers
Protection
Nonavee Dale
174
viii
contents
Malas Madres in Contemporary Latin American Literature:
Representing Ill-Fated Motherhood in Myriam Laurini’s
Qué Raro Que Me Llame Guadalupe
María Alonso Alonso
175
Celluloid Marys:
Discovering and Listening to the Bad Mothers
behind the Criminals in Popular Crime Films
Michelle Hughes Miller, Geraldine M. Hendrix-Sloan,
and M. Joan McDermott
192
Bad Motherhood in Contemporary Argentine Cinema:
Illustrating the New Political Agenda
Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns,
Patricia Vazquez, and Juan Juvé
212
iv: resisting bad mother narratives
Bad Mother
Freddie Robins
232

Underneath Broadmoor
Tamar Hager
242
Feminism, Infanticide, and Intersectionality
in Victorian America
Keira V. Williams
256
ix