cfp.english.upenn.edu

Baby at the Breast: Representations and Discourses of Breastfeeding in Western Culture
MLA 2013 Jan. 3-6 Boston

This proposed session seeks papers that explore depictions of breastfeeding in Western literature, film, art, etc., (any period) and analyze the engagement of these representations with the ever-changing and often contentious discourses of motherhood and womanhood.

Topics, in reference to various cultural forms, might include:
- symbolic associations of breastfeeding
- breastfeeding as racial and/or class marker
- the politics of breastfeeding
- breastfeeding as a measure of a mother
- iconography of the Madonna breastfeeding
- images of celebrities breastfeeding
- breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding in television or film
depictions of mothering
- feeding the baby in mommy lit
- the wet nurse
- American vs. European depictions of breastfeeding
- breastfeeding in memoirs of motherhood
- breastfeeding narratives in the blogosphere
- sexuality and breastfeeding
- the breast pump and cyborg-mothers
- gender inversions of nursing, i.e. men breastfeeding

Abstracts of 250 words and short cv due March 15th via email to
Christa Baiada, cbaiada@bmcc.cuny.edu