Maternal Activism

Mothers Confronting Injustice

By Danielle Poe

Subjects: Women's Studies, Gender Studies, Ethics, Philosophy
Series: SUNY series, Praxis: Theory in Action
Paperback : 9781438455709, 137 pages, January 2016
Hardcover : 9781438455716, 137 pages, April 2015

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments
1. Biography as Philosophy: the Power of Personal Example for Transformative Praxis
2. Choice and Consequences: Molly Rush
3. The Power of Horizontal Support: Michele Naar-Obed
4. Cindy Sheehan: War and Institutionalized Misinformation
5. Diane Wilson and the Genealogy of a Bay
6. Mothering: The Power of Critique, Action, and Transformation
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Demonstrates how individuals can respond to widespread injustice and systemic militarization in society.

Description

Maternal Activism tells the stories of women who refused to ignore injustice even though many people urged them to stop their activism by claiming it would harm their children. Molly Rush, Michele Naar-Obed, Cindy Sheehan, and Diane Wilson recognized that the potential well-being of their children relates to the damage done by US militarism and environmental destruction. These women's stories illustrate feminist ethical theory and contemporary theory from peace studies. By examining their context for addressing injustice and the theoretical supports for their action, this book demonstrates that issues of injustice overlap such that critiques of nuclear weapons lead to critiques of war and militarism, which lead to critiques of environmental destruction.

Danielle Poe is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dayton and editor of Communities of Peace: Confronting Injustice and Creating Justice.

Reviews

"The unique strength of this book is that in sharing the stories of these four mothers it brings to the forefront what it means to live maternal activism in the many dimensions of women's lives: activist, partner, mother, friend, etc., and does so with acute and sensitive awareness of the complexities and tensions of doing so." — Andrea O'Reilly, editor of Feminist Mothering