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Intensive Performances of Mothering: a Sociological Perspective

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA sbell{at}bowdoin.edu

This article explores multiple identities and meanings of mothering by interpreting two narrative performances of mothering in the early 1970s. One performance is from a work of art by feminist Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document (1983), the other from a research interview conducted in the early 1980s with a DES daughter. Both women perform versions of intensive mothering. The essay shows that moving between narratives produced in a research interview and a work of art enlarges the field of narrative analysis and fills in details about how intensive mothering is a historically specific and embodied practice.

Key Words: DES • diethylstilbestrol • intensive mothering • Mary Kelly • narrative • narrative analysis • performance • visual narratives

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