Seminars
The overall aim of the motherhoods, markets and consumption (MMC) seminar series is to raise awareness of the substantive, ethical, social, epistemological and methodological issues facing researchers in this area.
Its objectives are:
- To foster a strong cross-cultural and interdisciplinary forum for research into motherhoods, markets and consumption (MMC), and to identify the challenges and clarify the benefits for cross-cultural and interdisciplinary work on MMC.
- To disseminate and create awareness of MMC research to a wider audience.
- To promote awareness and interest in MMC research amongst graduate research students.
- To identify and establish disciplinary/cross-disciplinary/cross-cultural networks for future collaboration on research projects.
Seminar six (last of series): Monday 13 September 2010
Seminar six in the series is entitled Intergenerational Perspectives: Mothers, Daughters, and the Feminine/Feminist.
This seminar will be hosted at the University of Oxford 13th September 2010 with a doctoral colloquium attached on 14th September.
This final seminar in the series will focus upon the variation in values between female generations, as manifest in popular culture in the UK and US over the past 100 years, with special emphasis on contemporary comparisons between Second and Third Wave feminists. Get further details on this seminar.
Past seminars
The series began in January 2009, with the first seminar hosted at Keele University with a program of speakers addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research on Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption.
The second seminar, Motherhood, Consumption and Transition, addressed how consumption mediates the (re)formation of women's identities as mothers. Using research into motherhood at different transitional stages, the speakers examined how women appropriate consumption into their evolving experience of motherhood.
The third seminar, Consuming Maternal Archetypes, sought to unravel and understand the presence and purpose of the archetype of the mother in the marketplace and why the archetype of the mother continues to be a potent symbol and important referent in contemporary culture.
Seminar four in the series, Consumption and Contested Motherhood Identities, gave voice to mothers whose experiences are often overlooked and whose identities as "real" or "good" mothers may be contested.
Seminar five, Feeding Motherhood, highlighted the interconnections between the way food and eating is socially organised in familial settings, and the contradictions that become apparent around motherhood and other domestic players when scrutinising commercial discourses.