Mothers as Others: Race, Reproductive Exclusion and a New Global Mommy Wars (Presentation)

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, this talk asks, why is motherhood an increasing site of conflict between women, and what would it take to turn it into a movement for solidarity? Far from being a global sisterhood, relations among mothers have been referred to as “mommy wars” and have focused heightened antagonisms toward immigrant and mothers of color. Developing the framework of “reproductive exclusion,” which examines control of reproduction as the basis of legal and social exclusion, this talk focuses on the history and current politics regarding Asian American mothers in the U.S. but it invites conversation with and application to other country contexts.

Join us for Miliann Kang's presentation at 11am on March 8, 2023 in Sala 3 at ICS-ULisboa.

Miliann Kang is Professor in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and affiliated faculty in Sociology and Asian/Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of The Managed Hand: Race, Gender and the Body in Beauty Service Work (University of California Press, which won multiple book awards from the American Sociological Association and National Women's Studies Association) and is completing her next book, Mother Other: Race and Reproductive Politics in Asia America (under contract with the University of California Press). She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar with Ewha University, and a Korea Foundation Fellow with Seoul National University, researching work and family issues for Asian and Asian American women in transnational contexts. She served for four years as Director of Diversity Advancement for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, as Graduate Program Director for multiple terms and as co-organizer for an National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant to support women and non-binary faculty of color. Her writing has been published in Gender and Society, Contexts, Gender, Work & Organization, Meridians, Newsweek, The Conversation, Women’s Review of Books, Huffington Post, the Korea Times and Ms.