Collective residencies / Olot
Negotiating Non-Motherhood
From Monday, 14 March 2022 to Friday, 18 March 2022

March 2022
Negotiating Non-Motherhood: Voluntary, Involuntary, and Circumstantial Childlessness
This thematic residence focuses on the experiences, representations, and perceptions of women who do not have children against the backdrop of traditional gender norms, pronatalist policies and patriarchal structures. While involuntary and voluntary childlessness have typically been treated separately and studied within different disciplines in previous scholarship, we explore non-motherhood beyond the involuntary/voluntary divide and consider the experiences of women who have chosen not to have children; of those who did not have children due to other life choices and/or through circumstance; and those who could not have children. We bring together a range of perspectives from different national contexts and from different disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and literary and cultural studies to explore non-motherhood. The project we are working on will focus on how these women’s life positions are negotiated, felt, represented, and received.
Residents

JENNY BJÖRKLUND
Professor of Gender Studies
MERCEDES CARBAYO ABENGOZAR
Lecturer
VALERIE HEFFERNAN
Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies
DOVILE KUZMINSKAITE
Assistant Professor and Researcher at Vilnius University
LAURA LAZZARI (ONLINE)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Childbirth and Postpartum Educator
ANNA Mª MORERO BELTRÁN (ON LINE)
ssociate Professor of the Department of Sociology at the University of Barcelona
MARÍA SEBASTIÀ SÁEZ (ON-LINE)
Assistant professor and researcher
LINA ŠUMSKAITĖ, ONLINE
Assistant Professor at Vilnius University, Researcher
JULIE RODGERS
Associate Professor
DAGNE BERZAITE ( ON LINE)
Assistant Professor at Vilnius University, Researcher
ELISABET ALMEDA SAMARANCH
Full professor of Sociology at the University of BarcelonaOpinions
What residents are saying about us

Assistant Professor and Researcher at Vilnius University
DOVILE KUZMINSKAITE
The Project The MotheNet Project offers deeper analysis and understanding of motherhood involving interdisciplinary approaches from humanities, social sciences, and medicine. The project tries to answer some crucial questions, in particular “What ...
+ info
Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies
VALERIE HEFFERNAN
The Project The MotheNet Project offers deeper analysis and understanding of motherhood involving interdisciplinary approaches from humanities, social sciences, and medicine. The project tries to answer some crucial questions, in particular “What ...
+ info
Lecturer
MERCEDES CARBAYO ABENGOZAR
The Project The MotheNet Project offers deeper analysis and understanding of motherhood involving interdisciplinary approaches from humanities, social sciences, and medicine. The project tries to answer some crucial questions, in particular “What ...
+ info
Professor of Gender Studies
JENNY BJÖRKLUND
The Project The MotheNet Project offers deeper analysis and understanding of motherhood involving interdisciplinary approaches from humanities, social sciences, and medicine. The project tries to answer some crucial questions, in particular “What ...
+ info