PERSONAL AND CULTURAL SHADOWS OF LATE MOTHERHOOD

by Maryann Barone-Chapman

Personal and Cultural Shadows of Late Motherhood explores the topic of delayed motherhood from a Jungian psychoanalytic perspective, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including interview transcripts, diaries, dreams, and the Jungian Word Association Experiment. It provides a unique contribution to our understanding of the pressures faced by women today on the topic of delayed motherhood.

We may consider an affect to be in place when a woman allows her relationship to her body and its procreative capacity to slip away from consciousness, only to awaken at a point when redeeming her past choices becomes a hunger. This book delves into personal, cultural and collective spheres of influence that have been split off waiting for the right moment to reintegrate. Working with Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and Jung’s Word Association Experiment, the author identifies aspects of the psyche arousing late procreative desire and considers the differing accounts of maternal and paternal parents, alongside the effect of growing up beside a male sibling. The book examines women’s procreative identity in midlife, identifies complexes of a personal, cultural and collective nature and considers how the role of mother is psychosocially performed, taking in feminist psychoanalytical thinking as well as Queer theory to explore new meanings for late motherhood.

This book will be of great interest to clinicians, researchers, and post-graduate students of Jungian, gender and psychosocial studies. Anyone with desire for motherhood in midlife will find this book relevant.

Excerpt:

Jungian psychoanalytic perspective, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including interview transcripts, diaries, dreams, and the Jungian Word Association Experiment. It provides a unique contribution to our understanding of the pressures faced by women today on the topic of delayed motherhood.

Reviews:John Beebe, MD on C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco wrote:

Barone-Chapman majestically invites us to rethink what a mother complex is,
revealing how consciousness grows from conflicts suffered with a trickster’s ability to turn double binds around.

Polly Young-Eisendrath, PhD wrote:

If you are a woman considering your own reproductive possibilities, or a clinician treating women struggling with infertility, and/or fear of decision-making, this book will help you see the complexity of women’s newfound “autonomy”.

About the Author

Maryann Barone-Chapman, PhD, is a Jungian Analyst, Supervisor and Professional Member of the Association of Jungian Analysts in London. Her involvement in Jungian psychology spans almost thirty years and spawned interest in female development leading her to research personal, cultural and collective complexes on delayed motherhood at Cardiff University’s School of Social Science. Her published works have appeared in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, Behavioral Science, Feminism and Psychology, Quadrant, and edited volumes on Jungian psychology published by Routledge.