However, this did open the way to what we might describe as a fourth wave of maternal scholarship that attempts that interactive engagement. Crossgenre writing by american feminist poetcritics, editor of millay at 100. Toward a politics of peace beacon press, 1989 and coeditor. The concept of maternal thinking was put forward in philosopher sara ruddick s 1989 book maternal thinking. I argue if maternal arguments do not address the variety. In the early 1990s, sara ruddick s maternal thinking was criticized for harboring a latent ethnocentrism. Sara ruddicks maternal thinking represents a great contribution to moral philosophyin particular, by bringing womens private. Request pdf reflections on sara ruddick s maternal thinking sara ruddick s maternal thinking. Sara ruddicks theory of maternal thinking applied to traditional. Toward a politics of peace persists in its relevance these many years after is first publication. Sep 27, 2010 in the early 1990s, sara ruddick s maternal thinking was criticized for harboring a latent ethnocentrism.
I take as my point of reference sara ruddick s germinal essay on mother hood as a discipline. It ex plores maternal beliefs, sentiments, and practices bearing on child. Feminism, nonviolence and pacifism i am obsessed with deliberate, organized legitimate violence. Obituar y a mothers thought radical philosophy archive. Maternal thinking is a powerful force that reaches every part of society, including economics.
It examines the kind of thinking about vulnerability that ruddick describes as developed through maternal practice and uses it as a. I use this distinction in the empirical study to describe two broad maternal attitudes. As you have access to this article, a pdf of this content is available in through the. Many scholars and critics alike read ruddick s maternal thinking as an attempt to demonstrate mothering as work.
Carol cohn university of massachusetts, boston academia. This paper revisits sara ruddicks maternal thinking thesis, in order to explore whether ruddicks insights into the character of maternal work can be. I am determined to tell one story of maternal thinking that is ready to be turned into a story of peace. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view download pdf for offline viewing. Sara ruddick, notes toward a feminist maternal peace politics. It is important to realize just how strange her ideas seemed to many peopleincluding many feministsat that time. February 17, 1935 march 20, 2011 was a feminist philosopher and the author of maternal thinking. May 10, 1989 in maternal thinking, an original and quietly provocative book, sara ruddick tries to redress the imbalance and to give motherhood or what she calls mothering its philosophical due.
Sarah ruddick s theory on maternal thinking and peace politics formed the theoretical framework of the study. Maternal thinkingsara ruddick 1995 a new york times notable book of. The most popular uniting theme in feminist peace literature grounds womens peace work in mothering. This paper uses sara ruddicks theory of maternal thinking to explain patterns of irish mothering that developed in ireland following the great famine of. In maternal thinking, ruddick works hard to dispel. The unes are underuned, and the page number circled twice and the paragraph remains soiled by sand and water. Response to wilders mothernature, and ruddicks maternal thinking.
Building on sara ruddick s work, we argue that her maternal thinking can be understood as a feminist weaving epistemology or flexible way of knowing that promotes meaningful inclusion, symmetrical power relations, and positive peace through three major practices. The problem of maternal thinking in feminist peace politics. Constructing maternal thinking rumsey 1990 hypatia wiley. Our initial conversation took place in my apart ment in december. Reconceptualizing work and building ruddicks feminist. However, there remain problems in the analysis which need to be addressed. Indeed, mary wollstonecraft held thatfor reasons of female education and rolemothers were a morally reprehensible lot. Toward a politics of peace remains a strange work in terms of genre some twenty years after its. Demeter press maternal thinking philosophy, politics. Constructing maternal thinking constructing maternal thinking rumsey, jean p. I love scrutinizing, i love holding, i love concrete thinking, welcoming change, humiuty and so forth. Maternal thinking was the name i gave to one way women were thinking differently and also an explanation of this different thinking that gave limited importance to the body maternal thinking was an expression of a whole. She was among the female philosophers became a part of the oral history project in.
Maternal practices begin in love, a love which for most mothers is as intense, confusing, ambivalent, poignantly sweet as any they will experience. My assimilation of olsens and lordes work in no way denies the differences which separate us nor the biases that those differences may introduce into my account. All of these studies demonstrate benefits from maternal thinking a form of thinking that is centered around providing the safety of being cared for, the safety of having someone to trust. Elsewhere, andrea has said that she is drawn to the details of maternal thinking. In maternal thinking 1983, ruddick describes maternal thought as the intellectual work of mothering. May 01, 20 in ruddick s view, maternal thinking and practice also encounters and endures contradictory needs and conditions, and so maternal practice is inherently flawed and involves failure.
Maternal thinking the consortium on gender, security and human. The year 2009 marks twenty years since the publication of sara ruddick s monumental text maternal thinking. Rethinking ruddick and the ethnocentrism critique of. A critical analysis of sara ruddick s maternal thinking. I will show that in the context of mommyblogs, ruddick s maternal practice and thinking resonate. Freedman is associate professor of english at the university of new hampshire. Maternal thinking, she goes on to say, is guided by a mothers interest in their. Ruddick states that critical dialogue becomes meaningful within the framework of shared discourse leading to discussion among those who practice maternal work or living closely and sympathetically with those who do 226. The relevance of dejours psychodynamics of work to ruddick s maternal thinking project, is that it nuances and strengthens ruddick s claim that maternal thinking has normative force for diverse maternal practices and values, i. Not only did she dare to suggest that the practices of mothering may give rise to a certain kind of moral thinking, she sought to turn that thinking to political use. Maternal thinking was the name i gave to one way women were thinking differently and also an explanation of this different thinking that gave limited importance to the body maternal thinking was an expression of a whole made up of body brain and spirit influenced by memory and tradition. This book is useful not only for feminist thinkers but for anyone interested in the development of another perspective on the militaristic consciousness that is rampant in todays industrialized and militarized societies.
Sara ruddicks 1980 first work on maternal thinking was published in 1980. Ruddick argues that the practice of mothering engenders a certain style of thought maternal thinking. I argue that if maternal arguments do no address the varie. Maternal thinking autobiographical writing across the. Toward a politics of peace, a book that is regarded, along with adrienne richs of woman born, as the most significant work in maternal scholarship and the new field of motherhood studies. Such thinking is characterized by what ruddick terms attentive love 1995. Motherhood to mothering and beyond semantic scholar. Ruddick responded to these critiques in the 1995 edition of her book, but her. Women in management february 1990 issue 48 1 2 3 information. Toward a politics of peace, by sara ruddick, alraida journal. Maternal thinking can also benefit scientific research, by emphasizing what one researcher described the pragmatic validity of a scientific finding kvale, 1994, which is the usefulness or applicability of that knowledge. Rethinking ruddick and the ethnocentrism critique of maternal thinking. Towards a politics of peace 1989, ruddick was concerned to provide an. Sara ruddicks maternal thinking as weaving epistemology for.
Sara ruddick was a feminist philosopher and the author of maternal thinking. In the first article, linda martin alcoff demonstrates the continuing relevance of the epistemological theory developed in maternal thinking and defends it against criticisms from postmodern perspectives. She earned her undergraduate degree at vassar college in 1957, and her ph. Maternal thinking as a feminist standpoint mothers and mens wars maternal nonviolence. Then later you made strong claimseven mentioning foucault and hegel etc. This article takes as its starting point sara ruddicks discussion of vulnerability in her. Demeter press maternal thinking philosophy, politics, practice. Overall, it argues that ruddick s articulation of maternal thinking provides a valuable resource for reimagining transformed and transformative security practices. Building on sara ruddicks work, we argue that her maternal thinking can be. Sara ruddicks maternal thinking as weaving epistemology. The agents of maternal practice, acting in response to the demands of their children, acquire a conceptual scheme a vocabulary and logic of connections through which they order and express the values of their practice ruddick 1989. Rumsey sara ruddick s maternal thinking represents a great contribution to moral philosophyin particular, by bringing womens private virtues into the public sphere. In her early paper maternal thinking 1980 and her seminal work maternal thinking. Indeed, ruddick is well aware that she is often heard, by her audiences, as idealizing mothers, and that this idealization is linked to a dangerous essentialism, which ignores differences among mothers and the oppressions that some but not all mothers suffer ruddick, 1995.
What madematernal thinking so lifechanging and groundbreaking was that it foregrounded what. Ruddick, 1992 for ruddick, mothering and feminism are not immune to the attractions of militarist thinking. Radosh, sara ruddick s theory of maternal thinking applied to traditional irish mothering, journal of family history, 33,3 2008, 304315. Towards a politics of peace in maternal thinking, towards a politics of peace 1989, sarah ruddick uses her considerable experience and skill as a philosopher to explicate an analysis of mothering as a practice. Maternal thinking pdf download full read book page. Reflections on sara ruddicks maternal thinking request pdf. Ruddick was honored as the 2002 distinguished woman philosopher, awarded by the society for women in philosophy. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. Rethinking ruddick and the ethnocentrism critique of maternal. Apr 24, 2018 sara ruddick 19352011 was an influential philosopher and feminist, best known for her analysis and research on the care of children. Towards a politics of peace 1989, ruddick was concerned to provide. I first came to the notion of maternal thinking and the virtues of maternal practices through person exchange with tillie olsen and then through reading her fiction. In other words, the book is presented by many secondary scholars as a careful attempt to demonstrate that the activity of the domestic sphere ought to be valued to the same extent or perhaps even more bailey 1995 as socially.
Reflections on maternal thinking museum of motherhood. A new york times notable book of the year 1989 philosopher, mother, and feminist sara ruddick examines the discipline of mothering, showing for the first time how the daytoday work of raising children gives rise to distinctive ways of thinking. Sara ruddick s 1980 first work on maternal thinking was published in 1980. This essay addresses this lacuna in the scholarship on ruddick. I argue if maternal arguments do not address the variety of relationships different races and classes of mothers have to institutional violence andor the military, then the resulting peace politics can only draw incomplete conclusions about the relationships between maternal work thinking and peace. Ruddick, 1995 using these objectives, ruddick strongly argues that society. Ruddick responded to these critiques in the 1995 edition of her book, but her response has not yet been addressed in the feminist philosophical literature. In maternal thinking 1989, ruddick defines mothering as a kind of work, involving protection, nurturance, and training, and argues that maternal activity gives rise to a specific mode of cognition.
Ruddick then proposes, using far more passion than reason, that mothering be seen. A critical analysis of sara ruddicks maternal thinking. I argue if maternal arguments do not address the variety of relationships different races and classes of mothers have to institutional violence andor the military, then the resulting peace politics can only draw incomplete conclusions about the relationships between maternal work thinking and. When people should go to the ebook stores, search commencement by shop, shelf by shelf, it is truly. In maternal thinking, she outlines three central goals of maternal practice. Ruddick attempted to respond to these critiques in the 1995 edition of maternal thinking, but how successfully she was able to enter fully into an interactive engagement with them remains an open question.
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