CFP: Mothering Multiples: (Re)exploring, (Re)presenting and Making Meaning of the Process of Becoming Pregnant, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting Experiences with Multiples

CALL FOR PAPERS

Demeter Press

is seeking submissions for an edited collection entitled

Mothering Multiples: (Re)exploring, (Re)presenting and Making Meaning of the Process of Becoming Pregnant, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting Experiences with Multiples (working title only)

Editor: Dr. Kathy Mantas

Deadline for Abstracts: April 30, 2014

There has been an increase of twin babies and higher order multiple birth babies born in Canada and around the world in the past few decades. The wide use of fertility drugs and high-tech procedures are considered to be one of the major contributing factors to the increase in multiple births, but there are others as well. This edited collection seeks to (re)explore, (re)present, make meaning, and contribute to a body of literature that is, at the moment limited, on the process of becoming pregnant, pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, and becoming a parent from the perspective of multiples, and all the layers and complexities this entails. Submissions from researchers, mothers, fathers, adult children (twinless twins or higher order multiples), grandparents, healthcare experts, community workers, artists, and activists are welcome. Chapters from a wide range of disciplines and cultural perspectives, both theoretical/scholarly and creative (e.g., stories, narrative, creative non-fiction, poetry, image-based), are highly encouraged and will be considered.

Topics may also include (but are not limited to):
Mothering in families with multiples; increased maternal age and mothering in families with multiples; queer engagements with reproduction and mothering multiples; cross-cultural perspectives on reproduction, reproductive technologies and multiples; reproductive technologies, multiples and the relationship with religion;carrying multiples; (in)fertility; experiences with/in fertility clinics; fertility clinics and in/accessibility issues (geographical, financial, etc.); experiences with assisted reproductive technologies and multiples; the medicalization of becoming a mother, pregnancy and childbirth with multiples; experiences and relationships with experts in the assisted reproductive technologies field and/or with medical experts in high-risk pregnancy units in hospitals; how assisted reproductive technological procedures are negotiated within and impact upon the work (public) and home (private) space; perspectives from activists; de/constructing dis/embodied understandings of reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth; historical overview of assisted reproductive technologies with respect to multiples; genetic testing and risks involved; fetal reduction with multiples; the experience of egg and sperm donation; outcomes associated with scientific/technological interventions regarding the pregnancy and birth of multiples; complications (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, anemia, gestational diabetes, premature rupture of membranes, and postpartum hemorrhage, reduced activity, withdrawal from employment, and prescribed bed rest - at home/hospital or both - during pregnancy, and emergency and planned Cesarean section, etc.); surviving traumatic birth experiences with multiples; preterm births; infant death(s); simultaneously dealing with birth(s) and death(s) of one, more or all multiples; loss, grief and memorialization; experiences in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU); mothering multiples or singletons (twinless twins) in the NICU; mothering twinless twins; surrogate breast milk; pumping breast milk; breastfeeding multiples; nurturing/feeding multiples; care of twinless twins or multiples after life in the NICU; mothering multiples with special needs; academia and mothering multiples; mothering/mothers of multiples and identity (class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, spirituality, culture, etc.); mother's of multiples and self-care; pre and post-natal care of mothers with multiples; adoption, surrogacy and multiples; stepmothering multiples.

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts: 250-word description of the proposed paper, including a tentative title. Also, please include a 50-word biography, citizenship details and your full contact information.

Deadline for abstracts: April 30, 2014

Full Manuscripts: MLA style, between 15-18 pages, double-spaced. Shorter stories/narrative works, image-based and/or creative submissions are also welcome (500-2500 words). Final acceptance of the manuscript for inclusion in the collection rests upon the strength and fit of the completed full piece.

Deadline for full manuscripts: December 15, 2014

To Submit: Please direct all submissions and inquiries to Kathy Mantas at kathym@nipissingu.ca

Disclosure: I am getting a complementary membership to MIRCI and subscription to the journal in return for posting these updates. It is, however, something I would have agreed to do for free because I think their work is so wonderful.