CFP: Criminalized Mothers: Criminalizing Motherhood

CALL FOR PAPERS Demeter Press is seeking submissions for an edited collection Criminalized Mothers: Criminalizing Motherhood Co-editors: Joanne Minaker and Bryan Hogeveen   Submission Deadline for Abstracts:June 1, 2012

Alongside the dissemination of toxic neoliberal policies that benefit the richest segments of society, the conditions in which criminalized women mother have eroded. While the affluent savor the fruits of investment into new markets and unfettered movement of capital around the globe, the poor and marginalized find themselves subject to increasing levels of surveillance and social control strategies intended to monitor their movements and intrusively govern their conduct. In the same instant, residues of the welfare state that initially undergirded the well-being of the impoverished and marginalized crumble under the weight of a state that appears unwilling to offer any meaningful assistance. In this ethos of gross income disparities and the vilification of the most marginalized segments of society the criminal justice state manages the excess and punishes the impoverished. Males continue to constitute the vast majority of individuals dealt with by the criminal justice state. Women, especially poor and racialized females, are nevertheless the fastest growing prison population worldwide. Whether through prison, house arrest, probation or restorative justice many marginalized women and girls find themselves subjected to state sponsored controls. Many of these women and girls are mothers. We collectively know very little about the conditions and contexts under which these women care for their children. This collection examines the challenges, difficulties and successes of criminalized mothers. It will highlight innovative programs and enterprising projects that seek to carve out welcome and hospitable spaces for these women. In particular, it seeks to give a voice to marginalized women who are too often silent and silenced by systems of control. The editors seek article length contributions from scholars and practitioners from all disciplines, including (but not limited to) criminology, sociology, social legal studies, education, political science, philosophy, criminal justice studies, geography and anthropology. We are equally interested in auto-ethnographic accounts that detail the frustrations and triumphs of mothers who have experienced criminal justice interventions. Artwork, poetry and short stories are also welcome.     Articles may examine (but are not limited to) the following topics: Probation and mothering; mothering on house arrest; restorative justice and motherhood; mothering in the context of domestic violence; prison mother/child programs; mothering while incarcerated; criminal justice policies and motherhood; the criminalization of poverty and motherhood; addictions and mothering; mothering sex workers; criminalized girls and mothering; programs for young female offenders and their children; motherhood and risk; surveillance and mothering; ethnography; mothering on parole; racialized mothers; child welfare; foster mothering; immigrant mothers; tensions between rights and needs of children and mothers.

Submission Guidelines Please submit 250 word abstracts and a 50 word biography and citizenship. Deadline for abstracts: June 1, 2012. Completed chapters are due June 1, 2013 Please send submissions and inquiries directly to Joanne Minaker  (minakerj@macewan.ca) and Bryan Hogeveen (hogeveen@ualberta.ca)

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