Mother-Scholars Intellectualize the Private Sphere

Abstract

Mother-scholars drive the feminist impulse to dismantle patriarchal binaries – namely, the sharp divide between the intellect and the maternal, the public and the private. For mother-scholars, maternal work is an intellectual endeavor. Because academic thinking plays a huge role in their careers, mother-scholars are committed to establishing an intellectual presence in their children’s education. Although school sites are technically public spaces, identifying the school as “their child’s” turns the school site into a perceived private space. This impels motherscholars to thoroughly evaluate their children’s education space