Queen Mary University of London
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We are seeking participants for a workshop on medieval and early modern motherhood. In recent years, scholarship has sought to illuminate motherhood in the medieval and early modern world as a distinct category of experience in the lives of women. This workshop will consider the various ways in which pre-modern motherhood was medicalised, moralised, theorised and visualised from conception and pregnancy through to childbirth, child-rearing and other ‘alternative’ ways of mothering.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Rituals of motherhood such as churching or lying-in ceremonies
- Breastfeeding and infant feeding
- Midwives and mothers; wet-nurses and mothers
- Advice to mothers
- Women’s writings about motherhood
- Religion and motherhood (including saints and spiritual motherhood)
- Maternal authority, particularly over children
- Relationships between mothers and fathers
If you have any questions, please contact Catherine Maguire or Lauren Cantos.
