Pushing the limits of motherhood: Narratives of older women in rural Zimbabwe.
Drawing on narratives of rurally-based Zimbabwean older women, this article analyses experiences of motherhood in relation to the country’s shifting economic and socio-political landscapes. The narratives of these older women, who have nurtured their children and continue to do so way into (their ch...
| Published in: | African Studies Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 44 - 64 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2017
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=122143625&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 122143625 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00020184 35L jtl: African Studies issn: 00020184 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2017 vid: 76 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 122143625 10.1080/00020184.2017.1285667 ppf: 44 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.3MB tig: atl: Pushing the limits of motherhood: Narratives of older women in rural Zimbabwe. aug: au: Batisai, Kezia affil: University of Johannesburg su: Older women Motherhood Aging Adults Child care Zimbabwe sug: subj: Zimbabwe Older women Motherhood Aging Adults Child care keyword: ageing older women rural Zimbabwe ab: Drawing on narratives of rurally-based Zimbabwean older women, this article analyses experiences of motherhood in relation to the country’s shifting economic and socio-political landscapes. The narratives of these older women, who have nurtured their children and continue to do so way into (their children’s) adulthood, push scholars to grapple with questions of motherhood in respect of ‘intensive mothering’. Intensive mothering points at the exclusivity of motherhood which frames the responsibility to provide and care for the children during their formative years as virtually the mother’s. Older women in this article are second and third generation mothers whose narratives challenge constructions of motherhood which limit intensive mothering to the formative stages of children’s lifecycle. The narratives raise questions like ‘when does a woman cease to be a hands-on mother who vigorously provides for her adult children?’ Such questions are a way into existential and contextual realities of ageing in rural Zimbabwe. Contextual-based analyses explore the interaction between motherhood, socioeconomic and political change in Zimbabwe through language that assigns meaning to motherhood, ageing, and the state. Overall, the article offers the reader insight into how questions of motherhood, ageing, and the state might affect women located within equally volatile contexts across the globe. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of African Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: African Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2017 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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