2008 Press Releases
UCC Conference Explores Motherhood
15.05.2008
Aspects of mothering and motherhood will be the topics for discussion at a conference taking place at UCC on Saturday, May 24th 2008.
15.05.2008
Aspects of mothering and motherhood will be the topics for discussion at a conference taking place at UCC on Saturday, May 24th 2008.
Organised by the Association for Research on Mothering - Ireland (ARMI) and Women's Studies UCC, the conference titled "Exploring Mothers: Discourses, Representations and Practices of Mothering" will host speakers from Ireland, the UK and Spain.
Keynote speaker is sociologist Tina Miller from Oxford Brookes University, England who will deliver a talk titled "Exploring Mothers: Overlap and Diversity in Caring, Loving and Ambivalent Mothering Relationships." Her book "Making Sense of Motherhood" was published in 2005 and explores the transition to motherhood in different cultural contexts. Tina Miller has been engaged by the World Health Organisation as an expert advisor and she has also presented her work at UNICEF headquarters in New York.
Two parallel sessions follow the keynote address. The session titled "Supported Mothering" begins with Ellen Brady, a final year psychology student from University College Dublin, who has researched the experience of parents using an Irish parenting website. She will be followed by two speakers from the University of Huddersfield, UK. Andrew Duggan, a child and family therapist, will address mother-blame in the context of mental well-being. His colleague Adele Jones, Professor of Childhood Studies, will reflect on a black woman's perspective on adoption and mothering, framed in a letter to a social worker. Last in this session is Fionnuala O'Fiannachta, Celbridge La Leche League, who will give a personal perspective on supporting mothering in modern Ireland.
Máire Leane, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies in UCC, begins the second parallel session called "Constructing Mothers". She will use a feminist approach in her discussion of how we can understand mothers, mothering and motherhood in contemporary Ireland. She is followed by Noelia Igareda, associate professor of Philosophy and Law at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Igareda's topic is motherhood as a subject of law. Angela O'Connell, a PhD student from National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) will discuss ideals of motherhood from a lesbian feminist standpoint in her talk. Concluding this session is the VOICE group, with the title "The Mother of Consumerism: Why We Feel Our Newborn Will Only Be Happy in a €1000 Buggy!" VOICE is a European research collective exploring motherhood from a consumer perspective and will be represented by the three Irish-based members Lisa O'Malley, senior lecturer in marketing (UL), Andrea Prothero, associate professor in marketing (UCD) and Susi Geiger, senior lecturer in marketing (UCD).
The third session after lunch is devoted to mothers and employment. Maria Quinlan, PhD-student in Trinity College, is the first speaker and she will discuss how gender impacts on career decision-making. Patricia Lyne is a MA in Women's Studies graduate from UCC and her paper explores why an increased number of Irish women decide to have their first child after the age of thirty. Clare O'Hagan, a PhD-student at the University of Limerick, will discuss the ways women make decisions about combining motherhood and employment. Following a short coffee break, the last two speakers of the day will address the need to support mothers who give up paid employment to work at home. Meabh Smith, formerly an engineer employee and now a full-time mother, has titled her talk "To Work or Not to Work: Sin an Cheist!" She is followed by writer and journalist Victoria White whose paper will challenge Irish second wave feminists' attitudes to motherhood.
The conference concludes with a plenary session discussing issues raised during the day. This is the second year this event is held in UCC and it is also the first anniversary of the launch of ARMI. The conference is free and open to everyone, however, lunch pre-booked costs €10. For more information about the speakers and the programme please see the website http://www.armi.ie or http://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/WomensStudies/
The Conference takes place on Saturday, May 24th, O'Rahilly Building, Room 156 commencing at 9.30am.
737MMcS
Keynote speaker is sociologist Tina Miller from Oxford Brookes University, England who will deliver a talk titled "Exploring Mothers: Overlap and Diversity in Caring, Loving and Ambivalent Mothering Relationships." Her book "Making Sense of Motherhood" was published in 2005 and explores the transition to motherhood in different cultural contexts. Tina Miller has been engaged by the World Health Organisation as an expert advisor and she has also presented her work at UNICEF headquarters in New York.
Two parallel sessions follow the keynote address. The session titled "Supported Mothering" begins with Ellen Brady, a final year psychology student from University College Dublin, who has researched the experience of parents using an Irish parenting website. She will be followed by two speakers from the University of Huddersfield, UK. Andrew Duggan, a child and family therapist, will address mother-blame in the context of mental well-being. His colleague Adele Jones, Professor of Childhood Studies, will reflect on a black woman's perspective on adoption and mothering, framed in a letter to a social worker. Last in this session is Fionnuala O'Fiannachta, Celbridge La Leche League, who will give a personal perspective on supporting mothering in modern Ireland.
Máire Leane, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies in UCC, begins the second parallel session called "Constructing Mothers". She will use a feminist approach in her discussion of how we can understand mothers, mothering and motherhood in contemporary Ireland. She is followed by Noelia Igareda, associate professor of Philosophy and Law at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Igareda's topic is motherhood as a subject of law. Angela O'Connell, a PhD student from National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) will discuss ideals of motherhood from a lesbian feminist standpoint in her talk. Concluding this session is the VOICE group, with the title "The Mother of Consumerism: Why We Feel Our Newborn Will Only Be Happy in a €1000 Buggy!" VOICE is a European research collective exploring motherhood from a consumer perspective and will be represented by the three Irish-based members Lisa O'Malley, senior lecturer in marketing (UL), Andrea Prothero, associate professor in marketing (UCD) and Susi Geiger, senior lecturer in marketing (UCD).
The third session after lunch is devoted to mothers and employment. Maria Quinlan, PhD-student in Trinity College, is the first speaker and she will discuss how gender impacts on career decision-making. Patricia Lyne is a MA in Women's Studies graduate from UCC and her paper explores why an increased number of Irish women decide to have their first child after the age of thirty. Clare O'Hagan, a PhD-student at the University of Limerick, will discuss the ways women make decisions about combining motherhood and employment. Following a short coffee break, the last two speakers of the day will address the need to support mothers who give up paid employment to work at home. Meabh Smith, formerly an engineer employee and now a full-time mother, has titled her talk "To Work or Not to Work: Sin an Cheist!" She is followed by writer and journalist Victoria White whose paper will challenge Irish second wave feminists' attitudes to motherhood.
The conference concludes with a plenary session discussing issues raised during the day. This is the second year this event is held in UCC and it is also the first anniversary of the launch of ARMI. The conference is free and open to everyone, however, lunch pre-booked costs €10. For more information about the speakers and the programme please see the website http://www.armi.ie or http://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/WomensStudies/
The Conference takes place on Saturday, May 24th, O'Rahilly Building, Room 156 commencing at 9.30am.
737MMcS