Course Description
In this four-session class with Dr. Michelle Tellez, Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies, participants will examine the experiences of mothers as they navigate social, political, economic, and cultural borders across the US/Mexico borderlands. Ideologies of motherhood shape how mothers are perceived and how motherhood is experienced which typically results in monolithic conceptions that do not capture the expansive ways in which caregiving is provided by other mothers, families, communities, and other kinship structures. Research shows that class, race, gender, sexuality, and place frame mothering practices, yet ‘successful’ mothering is typically not measured with this understanding. In this course, we will collectively ask: what is mothering? What does mothering look like across borders? What does mothering look like in community? What kinds of burdens and expectations are placed on mothers that are directly linked to the political economy? Through lectures and case studies, this course will extend notions of motherhood by studying various models including but not limited to: transnational mothering, radical mothering, and mothering for social justice.
Course Format
Registered community members will meet with Professor Tellez for four live online sessions on the following Wednesdays from 5:30PM to 7 PM: April 13, 20, 27 and May 4.