Developing a new Network of Researchers on Contemporary European Motherhood

Project Information

MotherNet

Grant agreement ID: 952366

DOI

10.3030/952366

Project closed

EC signature date 15 June 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 30 June 2024

Funded under

• Twinning of research institutions

Total cost

€ 898 178,75

EU contribution

€ 898 178,75

Coordinated by

VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS
Lithuania

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Deliverables

Documents, reports (4)

Programme for the MotherNet Research Colloquium for Year 1

This document is the programme of events for the months research colloquium that will take place at VU in 2021

Programme for the Midterm Research Workshop

This document is the programme of the research workshop that will take place at VU in early 2022

Programme for the MotherNet Research Colloquium for Year 3-4

This document is the programme of events for the months research colloquium that will take place at VU in 2023-2024.

Programme for the MotherNet Research Colloquium for Year 2

This document is the programme of events for the months research colloquium that will take place at VU in 2022.

Other (2)

MotherNet social media accounts

These social media accounts will be used to promote research events and public events and to summarise research findings that might be of interest to the general public

MotherNet website

The website will be to promote MotherNet academic and nonacademic events in all three partner universities and to make available any noncopyrighted publications associated with the project

Publications

Book chapters (17)

Contested Motherhood in Autobiographical Writing: Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti

Author(s): Margaretha Fahlgren, Anna Williams
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2024, Page(s) 135-151
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_8

Orality/Aurality and Voice of the Voiceless Mother in Abla Farhoud’s Happiness Has a Slippery Tail

Author(s): Eglė Kačkutė
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2023, Page(s) 77-92
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_5

One Hand Clapping: The Loneliness of Motherhood in Lucia Berlin’s “Tiger Bites”

Author(s): Lisa Grahn
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2023, Page(s) 17-31
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_2

Le cinesi de Manuel García y Metastasio en el siglo XXI: el mito de Andrómaca como paradigma de viuda y madre virtuosa en una ópera de salón neoclásica y orientalizante

Author(s): Maria Sebastià Sáez
Published in: L’Orient a la tradició literària grecollatina i la seua recepció, Issue 2021, 2021, Page(s) 195-209, ISBN 9788412020977
Publisher: Reus

International Responses to Regretting Motherhood

Author(s): Valerie Heffernan, Katherine Stone
Published in: Women’s Lived Experiences of the Gender Gap - Gender Inequalities from Multiple Global Perspectives, 2021, Page(s) 121-133, ISBN 978-981-16-1173-5
Publisher: Springer Singapore
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_11

Reclaiming Non-Motherhood: Abjection, Laughter and Failure in Twenty-First-Century Swedish Narratives of Childlessness

Author(s): Jenny Björklund
Published in: Negotiating Non-Motherhood: Representations, Perceptions, and Experiences, 2025, Page(s) 21-40, ISBN 978-3-031-66696-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_2

The Incomplete Mother as Non-mother: A Study of Secondary Infertility in Helen Davies’ More Love to Give

Author(s): Julie Rodgers
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Negotiating Non-Motherhood, 2024, Page(s) 103-120
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_6

Childless Women’s Relationships with Children of Others: Narratives from Two Generations in Lithuania

Author(s): Lina Šumskaitė, Margarita Gedvilaitė-Kordušienė
Published in: Close Relations, Issue 2021, 2021, Page(s) 171–192, ISBN 978-981-16-0791-2
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-0792-9_11

Struggling to Become a Mother: Literary Representations of Involuntary Childlessness

Author(s): Jenny Björklund
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2023, Page(s) 55-75
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_4

The (M)other’s Voice: Representations of Motherhood in Contemporary Swiss Writing by Women

Author(s): Valerie Heffernan
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2023, Page(s) 115-134
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_7

Conceptualising Non-Motherhood

Author(s): Jenny Björklund, Julie Rodgers
Published in: Negotiating Non-Motherhood. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, 2025, Page(s) 1-20, ISBN 978-3-031-66696-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_1

Choosing Childlessness: Familial and National Acts of Resistance in Preti Taneja’s We That Are Young (2017)

Author(s): Orlagh Woods
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Negotiating Non-Motherhood, 2024, Page(s) 177-196
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_10

Non-Motherhood and the Narrative of the Self in Nuria Labari’s The Best Mother of the World

Author(s): Dovilė Kuzminskaitė
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Negotiating Non-Motherhood, 2024, Page(s) 41-59
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_3

Alternative Happy Endings? A Qualitative Study of Non-Mothers in Lithuania

Author(s): Lina Šumskaitė
Published in: Negotiating Non-Motherhood. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life., 2025, Page(s) 81-101, ISBN 978-3-031-66696-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_5

Infertility, Desire for Motherhood and Surrogacy in Miguel de Unamuno’s Dos madres

Author(s): María Sebastià-Sáez
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Negotiating Non-Motherhood, 2024, Page(s) 139-156
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_8

Ambivalent Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering: From Normal and Natural to Not-at-all

Author(s): Helena Wahlström Henriksson, Anna Williams, Margaretha Fahlgren
Published in: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing, 2023, Page(s) 1-15
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17211-3_1

Adapting (to) Non-Motherhood: Ulrike Kofler’s Film What We Wanted (2020)

Author(s): Valerie Heffernan
Published in: Negotiating Non-Motherhood. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life, 2025, Page(s) 221-238, ISBN 978-3-031-66696-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-66697-1_12

Peer reviewed articles (32)

“A Mother Could Not Haven Written That Novel”: Georges de Peyrebrune’s Victoire la Rouge (1883) and Narratives of Motherhood

Author(s): Marie Martine
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 17-29, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.2

El mito del sacrificio de Ifigenia en el film Sophie’s Choice: la dicotomía moral de una madre en el contexto del Holocausto

Author(s): Maria Sebastià Sáez
Published in: Studia Philologica Valentina, Issue 2021, 2021, Page(s) 641-647, ISSN 1135-9560
Publisher: STVDIA PHILOLOGICA VALENTINA
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6811808

Violence of Adult Sons Against Mothers in the Context of Matricide

Author(s): Ilona Michailovič, Lina Šumskaitė
Published in: Filosofija. Sociologija, Issue 35, 2024, ISSN 0235-7186
Publisher: Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers
DOI: 10.6001/fil-soc.2024.35.2priedas.special-issue.3

Проблема представления материнства в русской литературе XIX века

Author(s): Дагне Бержайте
Published in: SlavVaria, Issue 2, 2022, ISSN 2786-2550
Publisher: Pécs: PTE Szlav. Intéz, 2021-
DOI: 10.15170/sv.1/2022.85

The Role of the Mother in Lithuanian Heritage Language Maintenance

Author(s): Meilutė Ramonienė, Jogilė Teresa Ramonaitė
Published in: Languages, Issue 9, 2024, Page(s) 241, ISSN 2226-471X
Publisher: MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/languages9070241

Motherhood in the Work of Marie NDiaye: Modernising the Madonna and Medea

Author(s): Pauline Eaton
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 30-42, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.3

Subjectivities of highly skilled lead, tied, and equal migrant mothers

Author(s): Eglė Kačkutė
Published in: Gender, Work & Organization, 2024, ISSN 0968-6673
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13166

Procne in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Author(s): Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed
Published in: Classical Receptions Journal, Issue 2022, 2021, ISSN 1759-5134
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/crj/clab002

“My Work Is to Show That It’s So Much More Beautiful When You Can Mix”: An Interview With Kim Thúy

Author(s): Eglė Kačkutė, Valerie Heffernan
Published in: Contemporary Women's Writing, Issue 18, 2025, Page(s) 20-31, ISSN 1754-1484
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/cww/vpae029

“Do you think Mammy’s alright?” – An interdisciplinary exploration of themes of Irish motherhood in Anne Enright’s The Green Road

Author(s): Róisín Freeney, Orlagh Woods
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 57-70, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.5

Introduction to “Motherhood, Subjectivity, and Work”

Author(s): Anne O'Brien, Eglė Kačkutė, Marian Crowley‐Henry
Published in: Gender, Work & Organization, 2025, ISSN 0968-6673
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13255

Astrid Lindgren and the Nightingale’s Song

Author(s): Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed
Published in: Barnboken, 2024, ISSN 2000-4389
Publisher: The Swedish Institute for Children's Books
DOI: 10.14811/clr.v47.933

Creative and crime scene photography: staged patricide and matricide as screen memories in Aida Chehrehgosha’s<i>To Mom, Dad and My Two Brothers</i>

Author(s): Atėnė Mendelytė
Published in: photographies, Issue 15, 2023, Page(s) 167-186, ISSN 1754-0763
Publisher: Routledge
DOI: 10.1080/17540763.2022.2060291

The Migrant Mother’s Silence in Her Mother Tongue as a Mothering Strategy

Author(s): Eglė Kačkutė
Published in: Contemporary Women's Writing, Issue 18, 2025, Page(s) 128-148, ISSN 1754-1484
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/cww/vpae027

“On ne peut rien contre une fille qui rêve”: Teenage Pregnancy as Maternal Empowerment or Maternal Entrapment in 17 Filles

Author(s): Julie Rodgers, Ciara Gorman
Published in: Modern Languages Open, Issue 2023, 2023, ISSN 2052-5397
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
DOI: 10.3828/mlo.v0i0.456

Zwei Sprachen gleichzeitig? Nein, das schaff’ ich nicht: A Lithuanian-German Boy’s Journey to Active Bilingualism

Author(s): Inga Hilbig
Published in: Philologia Estonica Tallinnensis, 2022, ISSN 2504-6616
Publisher: Kirjastaja
DOI: 10.22601/pet.2022.07.05

The motherly gaze in Aslaug Holm’s <i>Brothers</i> ( <i>Brødre</i> , 2015)

Author(s): Atėnė Mendelytė
Published in: Studies in European Cinema, 2024, Page(s) 1-15, ISSN 1741-1548
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.
DOI: 10.1080/17411548.2024.2319406

Travelling Thai Surrogate Mothers: Required and Restricted Mobility in Transnational Surrogacy

Author(s): Elina Nilsson
Published in: Medical Anthropology, Issue 43, 2025, Page(s) 734-747, ISSN 0145-9740
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2024.2424364

Resisting silence and stigma: Mothering and sex work

Author(s): Kathryn McGarry, Irma Kondrataitė
Published in: Gender, Work &amp; Organization, 2024, ISSN 0968-6673
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13164

The Never Good Enough Mother: Escaping Motherhood in Two Contemporary Novels

Author(s): Lori Arnold
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 87-99, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.7

The subjectivity load: Negotiating the internalization of “mother” and “creative worker” identities in creative industries

Author(s): Anne O’ Brien
Published in: Gender, Work &amp; Organization, 2024, ISSN 0968-6673
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13157

Negotiating Good Parenthood in Swedish Climate Change Fiction

Author(s): Jenny Björklund
Published in: NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 2024, Page(s) 1-13, ISSN 0803-8740
Publisher: Routledge
DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2024.2429634

The Ethics of Motherhood in Plutarch's Parallel Lives

Author(s): Schottenius Cullhed, S., & Juchnevičienė, N.
Published in: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, Issue 63(4), 2023, Page(s) 401–421, ISSN 2159-3159
Publisher: Duke University Press

‘It wasn’t what I was suited for’: regretful mothers negotiating their reproductive decision and mother role

Author(s): Maja Bodin
Published in: Medical Humanities, Issue 50, 2024, Page(s) 70-76, ISSN 1468-215X
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1136/medhum-2023-012717

Introduction: Motherhood, Mobility, Migration in Twenty-First-Century Women’s Writing

Author(s): Eglė Kačkutė, Valerie Heffernan
Published in: Contemporary Women's Writing, Issue 18, 2025, Page(s) 1-19, ISSN 1754-1484
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/cww/vpae032

Thought Experiments in Video Games: Exploring the (Un)Ethics of Motherhood in Frictional Games’ Amnesia: Rebirth

Author(s): Atėnė Mendelytė
Published in: Games and Culture, Issue 19, 2023, Page(s) 38-54, ISSN 1555-4120
Publisher: SAGE Publications
DOI: 10.1177/15554120231153715

Rewriting the Myth: Costanza Casati’s Clytemnestra

Author(s): Dina Eiduka
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 43-56, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.4

Still waters run deep: The invisible life of working mothers with disabilities in Lithuania

Author(s): Violeta Gevorgianienė, Eglė Šumskienė, Ciara Bradley
Published in: Qualitative Social Work, Issue 2022, 2022, ISSN 1741-3117
Publisher: SAGE Publishing
DOI: 10.1177/14733250221091995

There Are Things with No Price: Non/Motherhood, Agency, and Identity in The Witcher

Author(s): Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 71-86, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.6

“I never thought about how much of a juggle it would be”: motherhood and work in contemporary Lithuanian and Irish creative industries

Author(s): Sarah Arnold, Anne O’Brien, Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, Jelena Šalaj
Published in: Feminist Media Studies, 2024, Page(s) 1-17, ISSN 1468-0777
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2024.2359494

Writing and Voicing Mothers and Motherhood: The Rise of the Maternal Narrative

Author(s): Julie Anne Rodgers, Eglė Kačkutė, Rūta Šlapkauskaitė
Published in: Literatūra, Issue 67, 2025, Page(s) 8-16, ISSN 1648-1143
Publisher: Vilnius University Press
DOI: 10.15388/litera.2025.67.4.1

Combining motherhood and work in the creative industries: Mothers have the problem

Author(s): Anne O’Brien, Sarah Arnold
Published in: Media, Culture &amp; Society, 2024, ISSN 0163-4437
Publisher: SAGE Publications
DOI: 10.1177/01634437241229327

Other (1)

Ganarse la vida. Género y trabajo a través de los siglos

Author(s): Egle Kackute; Valerie Heffernan
Published in: 2022
Publisher: Dykinson

Conference proceedings (1)

Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women with Disabilities: Some Insights from the UNCRPD Session in September 2023

Author(s): Eglė Šumskienė
Published in: Proceedings of the 3rd AIDRAN Biennial Conference: International Conference on Disability Rights, ICDR 2023, 21– 23 November 2023, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024
Publisher: EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.21-11-2023.2352625