Academic Mothering: Fabulating Futures for Higher Education - Paperback

by Kelly W. Guyotte (Volume Editor), Stephanie Anne Shelton (Volume Editor), Shelly Melchior (Volume Editor)

Inspired by those who mothered before and through the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a book about, for, and with those who live different embodiments of academic mothering--mothers, othermothers, academic mothers, and mothering academics. In this book, mothering is defined broadly, encompassing those who are biologically or legally mothers with children; those who are "not-mother" but who nonetheless understand and practice mothering; those who do identify as mothers but not as women; and all those who take on mothering roles in academia and beyond.

Through poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, image and text, the authors in this edited book creatively explore academic mothering through their unique lived experiences, illuminating three ideas that comprise the three sections of this book: mothering as practice, mothering in precarity, and mothering as relational. Through considering--and in many cases, writing about and through--their own mothering practices, this diverse collection of authors critique the systemic failures of academia in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, fabulating new possibilities that envision a future in which mothering is valued and supported in (and by) higher education.

Author Biography

Kelly W. Guyotte, PhD (2014), University of Georgia. She has published articles on methodology, equity, gender, and education as well as co-edited Philosophical Mentoring in Qualitative Research: Collaborating and Inquiring Together (Routledge, 2022).

Stephanie Anne Shelton, PhD (2016), University of Georgia. She has published articles exploring qualitative methodologies, teacher identities, and LGBTQ+ issues in education through queer and feminist frameworks and has published four other books.

Shelly Melchior, PhD (2021), The University of Alabama. She has published articles using qualitative methodologies to explore grief, feminism, secondary schooling, and teaching and teacher education. She is currently an Assistant Professor in The College of Education at The University of West Alabama in Livingston, Alabama.

Carlson H. Coogler, MSE (2017), Samford University. A doctoral candidate at The University of Alabama, she has published on qualitative methodology and pedagogy, arts-based research, and collaborative scholarship.