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African Americans’ and Latinas’ Mothering Scripts: An Intersectional Analysis

Notions of Family: Intersectional Perspectives

ISBN: 978-1-78190-535-7, eISBN: 978-1-78190-536-4

Publication date: 6 February 2013

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter explores mothering scripts among women of color and the intersection of race/ethnicity, social class, and family background in their narratives.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 24 African American and Latina mothers, this study analyzes the extent to which their narratives reflect more “intensive” or “extensive” mothering scripts.Findings – African American mothers typically drew from “extensive mothering” narratives, whereas Latina mothers’ scripts were more varied.Research implications – The findings point to the importance of and complexities in an intersectionality perspective: Latinas’ mothering scripts generally varied more across social class categories than those of African American mothers. However, African American mothers’ discussions of stress were mediated by their social class background.Social implications – The chapter concludes with the implications of this research for scholarship on families, and for social policies surrounding caregiving and employment.Originality/value – While rich theoretical and empirical works explore women of color and their family lives, few to none ask mothers themselves to talk about their actual and ideal experiences of motherhood. This chapter fills this gap by exploring the mothering scripts of women of color from diverse class backgrounds

Keywords

Citation

Christopher, K. (2013), "African Americans’ and Latinas’ Mothering Scripts: An Intersectional Analysis", Kohlman, M.H., Krieg, D.B. and Dickerson, B.J. (Ed.) Notions of Family: Intersectional Perspectives (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-2126(2013)0000017012

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited