Knowing Emotional Mothers: Affective and Epistemic Activism in Irish Childbirth Politics
This paper explores the activism engaged in by mothers in Ireland who campaign for improved maternity services. Drawing on a casestudy of the activities of the Association for the Improvement of Maternity Services in Ireland (AIMSI), (a consumer-led, advocacy group whose core mission is to highlight and campaign for normal birth and mother-friendly birth practices) this paper argues that the activism engaged in by AIMSI is underpinned by a politics of emotion and a politics of knowledge as distinct from a politics of identity. Drawing on Hemmings’ discussions of the concepts of ‘affective dissonance’ and ‘affective solidarity’ (2012:150) this paper will tease out the ways in which negative embodied/felt experiences of birth are harnessed to invoke a community of protest, which challenges prevailing birth practices. It will also consider the potential role which emotion and affect can play in supporting and sustaining feminist activism around mothering and motherhood.
Key Words
Emotion/affect, Birth Activism, Feminism and Mothering/Motherhood