This call solicits essays for a critical collection provisionally titled, Other Mothers. The book seeks to update scholarship on mothers-in-the-academy from both critical perspectives on maternal theory as well as sociological frameworks. "Other mothers" might include mothers who have adopted, mothers who do not have residential custody of their children, women who have experienced fertility challenges, surrogate mothers, mothers utilizing surrogates, mothers with chronically ill children, mothers grieving the loss of children, and all others who face challenges outside the scope of traditional white, heterosexual, cisgender motherhood that have previously framed this discourse (in texts such as Mama PhD, Maternal Theory, etc). Although well-intentioned, these previous approaches to mothering have tended to focus on ideals of motherhood which fewer and fewer women experience. This project seeks to broaden the scope of current scholarship to include mothers who are not typically well represented, experiences such as those described in Maggie Nelson's Argonauts.

Similarly to much of the current anthologized maternal theory, Mama Ph.D. (Evans, Grant, Peskowitz, 2008) discusses the challenges of mothers in academe, whether as graduate students, academic-job-seeking graduates, or tenured-faculty, but entirely neglects the idea of women who began graduate school (not to mention undergraduate school) as mothers. Andrea O’Reilly’s canonical Maternal Theory (2007), tends to focus on how feminism and motherhood agree and disagree, but is not inclusive of the other mothers, those who tend to remain on the periphery of maternal theory. In two parts, this collection will seek to update definitions of “mother” and examine the challenges mothers face in academe, beginning with their role as students and culminating in their tenured employment.

As a researcher in this area, I am currently seeking a university press for this project as well as potential critical collaborators. Feel free to email with questions and ideas as well as abstracts, and I look forward to talking with you.

Submission Information:

• Email a 500-750 word abstract by January 15, 2026 to the editor.

• Include author name(s), contact information including author affiliation, address, email, and telephone number.

• Notification of acceptance will be sent by February 28, 2026.

• Completed chapters are due by June 30, 2026

• Completed chapters should be no more than 30 pages total and follow MLA 9th edition style for citations and references.