Call for Chapters: Twenty-First Century Maternalism and the Politics of Global Family-Making

Editors

Shawyn C. Lee
University of Minnesota - Duluth

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: August 9, 2019
Full Chapters Due: August 23, 2019
Submission Date: December 16, 2019

Introduction

Historian Molly Ladd-Taylor defines maternalism as a politicized ideology that combined a uniquely feminine value system of care and nurturance with a woman’s capacity for motherhood and duty to properly raise future generations of citizens. Other scholars have referred to maternalism, and therefore motherhood, as an institution, a form of government. Throughout history, there has always been a fear of the child-raising practices of anyone that didn’t fit the white, Christian, and modern aspects of motherhood. This included single mothers, poor immigrants, people of color, gays and lesbians, and indigenous families. During the Cold War era in the United States, maternalism underwent a transformation due to the prioritization of sustaining middle-class families because of collective fears of the spread of communism. It was during this time that some scholars assert that maternalist ideologies transformed motherhood into parenthood, and even adoptive parenthood when historic numbers of especially Korean children came into the United States following the Korean War. Cold War maternalism asserts that by adopting biracial Korean children into white American homes, American adoptive parents not only fulfilled their civic duty to build and maintain middle-class, nuclear families, but also built a broader ideology that the United States was the only fit “mother” to the children of postwar South Korea. Now, in the Twenty-First Century, even though our socio-cultural and political contexts have shifted over time, this broader aspect of maternalism can certainly be applied to current American and global child-removal schemes including, but not limited to, foster care, family separations at the U.S. – Mexico border, and international transracial adoption from other countries.

Objective

This book will aim to provide relevant topical information that examines child-removal schemes, both historic and contemporary, using a maternalist framework that, on a micro level, asserts white, middle-class, Christian families make the most fit parents. On a more macro level, this kind of maternalism also relies on state or government control over who can appropriately “mother” children. Contents may include relevant theoretical frameworks, and empirical research findings in areas of foster care, adoption, and family separation from a maternalist perspective. It will be written for professionals who want to improve their understanding of how the features of maternalism has been a part of the American and global child welfare systems with respect to child-removal, and the impacts of this throughout history and within current contexts.

Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the fields of social work, child welfare, history, women’s studies, cultural studies, American studies, international relations, foreign policy, and political science.

Recommended Topics

• Maternalism
• Cold War maternalism
• Cold War era
• Constructions of motherhood
• Foreign relations
• Immigration
• Refugee experiences
• Child-removal
• Child-saving
• Child-placing
• Adoption
• International adoption
• Transracial adoption
• Foster care
• Indigenous children
• Child welfare
• Social work
• Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
• Family separation
• Empire
• Nation building
• Adoption industry
• Indian Adoption Project (IAP)
• Korean adoption
• Adoption from Eastern European countries
• Adoption from Central American countries
• Adoption from African countries
• Adoption policy
• Adoption procedures

Submission Procedure

Researchers and writers are invited to submit on or before August 9, 2019, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of their proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by August 12, 2019 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 23, 2019, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Historic and Current Perspectives on International Adoption and Cold War Maternalism in the US. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery®TM online submission manager.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2020.

Important Dates

August 9, 2019: Proposal Submission Deadline
August 23, 2019: Full Chapter Submission
October 21, 2019: Review Results Returned
December 2, 2019: Final Acceptance Notification
December 16, 2019: Final Chapter Submission

Inquiries

Shawyn C. Lee
University of Minnesota - Duluth
sclee@d.umn.edu

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