Seminars
Consuming Maternal Archetypes
University of Ulster, Belfast Campus, Cathedral Quarter, Belfast
Monday 7 September 2009
The archetype of the mother is a myth that implies certain behaviours, norms and, indeed, taboos. It is a natural state that has, from time immemorial, been inscribed with political, social, historical, cultural, religious, psychological, and symbolic meanings, and is rich with cultural contradictions and complexities. Indeed social and cultural constructions about how to be a good mother proliferate in the marketplace through numerous intersecting discourses.
This seminar will seek to unravel and understand maternal archetypes in the marketplace and why the archetype of the mother continues to be a potent symbol in contemporary consumer culture. It will draw on the related fields of advertising (both at an academic and practitioner level), consumer behaviour, popular culture, cultural studies and market research, to explore ideologies and popular narratives of motherhood in contemporary Western society.