March 6, 2009

Dr. Park is working on a book, tentatively titled “Real (M)others: The Metaphysics of Maternity in Adoptive, Queer, and Blended Families.” The central philosophical question posed by and explored in her work is “What is a real mother?” Interweaving personal narrative and theoretical reflection, Park explores the emotional and philosophical terrain of contested motherhood within the context of open and transracial adoptive families, queer and postmodern configurations of domestic space, and technological transformations of familial love. In so doing, she interrogates interpretations of “real” mothering that oppose biological and social embodiments of mothering, examines diverse social embodiments of mothering, queries the distinctions between “real” (material) and virtual motherhood and distinctions between “real” (normative) and queer domestic spaces, and explores the distinction between “real” (lived) mothering as distinguished from the idealized versions of motherhood that permeate our cultural imagination.


Category: Department, Highlight

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