Locating the m(o)ther

Article


Voela, A. 2009. Locating the m(o)ther. Studies in the Maternal. 3.
AuthorsVoela, A.
Abstract

When women embark on a journey of self-discovery, which often bears strong similarities to the psychoanalytic process, they eventually reach the realm of the M(O)ther. In some cases the latter is a heterotopic place, both an actual place in which women contemplate the complexities of their maternal attachments, and a literary/metaphorical locus with which women express the contemporary shifts in the maternal iconography and the representation of femininity. Combining Lacanian psychoanalysis and the Foucauldian notion of heterotopia, this paper discusses the role of the heterotopic maternal place in three contemporary Greek novels arguing that such a place has the potential to become a permanent ethical locus for contemporary women. Accommodating both the traversal of fantasies and symptoms and the departure from the conventional hierarchical order, it inaugurates a critical attitude towards the world and oneself by means of a transgressive or 'traversarial' ordering.

Keywordsgender studies; feminism; maternal attachment; representation of femininity
JournalStudies in the Maternal
Journal citation3
ISSN1759-0434
Year2009
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY-ND
Web address (URL)http://www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk/voela.html
http://hdl.handle.net/10552/1029
Publication dates
Print2009
Publication process dates
Deposited15 Nov 2010
Additional information

Citation:
Voela, A. (2009) ‘Locating the m(o)ther’ Studies in the maternal, issue 3..

Permalink -

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/86495

Download files


Accepted author manuscript
  • 190
    total views
  • 116
    total downloads
  • 3
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

SWAN-Self-healing and Wellbeing interventions through Existential Advocacy and Narrative inquiry- Applying SOPHIE as a practice methodology
Ali, G., Beigi, R., Voila, A., Lalani, N., Hamash, K., Sulaiman, S., Virani, G., Ongoji, K., Syed, H. and Ali, S. 2024. SWAN-Self-healing and Wellbeing interventions through Existential Advocacy and Narrative inquiry- Applying SOPHIE as a practice methodology. British Science Festival. University of East London, UK 11 - 15 Sep 2024
Killing Eve: Inflections of Rebirth and Pathogenesis
Datema, J. and Voela, A. 2022. Killing Eve: Inflections of Rebirth and Pathogenesis. in: Datema, J. and Voela, A. (ed.) Movement, Velocity, and Rhythm from a Psychoanalytic Perspective: Variable Speed(s) Taylor & Francis (Routledge). pp. 19-57
Running with Thieves: Baby Driver and The Beat My Heart Skipped
Voela, A. 2022. Running with Thieves: Baby Driver and The Beat My Heart Skipped. in: Datema, J. and Voela, A. (ed.) Movement, Velocity, and Rhythm from a Psychoanalytic Perspective: Variable Speed(s) Taylor & Francis (Routledge). pp. 98-120
Lockdown, Conspiracy Theories: Inaction, Transmission, Stupidity
Voela, A. 2021. Lockdown, Conspiracy Theories: Inaction, Transmission, Stupidity. in: Ellis, D. and Voela, A. (ed.) After Lockdown, Opening Up: Psychosocial Transformation in the Wake of COVID-19 Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 271-291
Conceptualising the Lockdown from the Point of View of Chronic Illness
Gallagher, S. and Voela, A. 2021. Conceptualising the Lockdown from the Point of View of Chronic Illness. in: Ellis, D. and Voela, A. (ed.) After Lockdown, Opening Up: Psychosocial Transformation in the Wake of COVID-19 Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91-110
Introduction: For a Psychosocial Approach to the Lockdown
Ellis, D. and Voela, A. 2021. Introduction: For a Psychosocial Approach to the Lockdown. in: Ellis, D. and Voela, A. (ed.) After Lockdown, Opening Up: Psychosocial Transformation in the Wake of COVID-19 Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 3-27
Addressing the Safety and Criminal Exploitation of Vulnerable Young People: Before, During and After COVID-19 and Lockdown
Ravenscroft, A., Salisbury, C., Voela, A. and Watts, P. 2021. Addressing the Safety and Criminal Exploitation of Vulnerable Young People: Before, During and After COVID-19 and Lockdown. in: Ellis, D. and Voela, A. (ed.) After Lockdown, Opening Up: Psychosocial Transformation in the Wake of COVID-19 Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 151-171
Seduction, Sharing Stories, and Borderlinking in Co-Constructed Narratives
Voila, A., Esin, C. and Achan, J. 2021. Seduction, Sharing Stories, and Borderlinking in Co-Constructed Narratives. Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations & Interventions. 10, pp. 39-49.
On Not Being Able to Build: Thinking Space, Boundaries and the Other with Lacan’s Discourse of the Capitalist
Voila, A. 2020. On Not Being Able to Build: Thinking Space, Boundaries and the Other with Lacan’s Discourse of the Capitalist. Architecture and Culture. 8 (3-4), pp. 420-432. https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2020.1789832
Movement, Embrace: Adriana Cavarero with Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger (and the Death Drive)
Voila, A. and Esin, C. 2020. Movement, Embrace: Adriana Cavarero with Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger (and the Death Drive). Hypatia. 36 (1), pp. 101-119. https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2020.49
Care for the Other: Lessons from the streets of Athens
Voila, A. 2020. Care for the Other: Lessons from the streets of Athens. European Journal of Women's Studies. 28 (1), pp. 42-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506820923705
Creative failure: Stiegler, psychoanalysis and the promise of a life worth living
Voela, A. and Rothschild, Louis 2019. Creative failure: Stiegler, psychoanalysis and the promise of a life worth living. New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory, Politics. 95, pp. 54-69. https://doi.org/10.3898/NewF:95.04.2018
History, Fidelity and Time in Rhea Galanki's Novels
Voela, A. 2019. History, Fidelity and Time in Rhea Galanki's Novels. The Journal of Modern Hellenism. 34, pp. 107-128.
Radical, ethical spaces
Voela, A. 2016. Radical, ethical spaces. in: Shaw, Debra Benita and Humm, Maggie (ed.) Radical Space: Exploring Politics and Practice Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 129-144
Family, Gender and the Emotional Economy in Tsemberopoulos’s The Enemy Within
Voela, A. 2017. Family, Gender and the Emotional Economy in Tsemberopoulos’s The Enemy Within. in: Kazakopoulou, Tonia and Fotiou, Mikela (ed.) Contemporary Greek Film Cultures from 1990 to the Present Peter Lang.
Loneliness in Cinema: A Pharmacological Approach
Voela, A. 2017. Loneliness in Cinema: A Pharmacological Approach. in: Narratives of Loneliness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from the 21st Century Routledge. pp. 221-230
Introduction: Aporia, the Sphinx, and the Hope that Life Will Make Sense
Voela, A. 2017. Introduction: Aporia, the Sphinx, and the Hope that Life Will Make Sense. in: Psychoanalysis, Philosophy and Myth in Contemporary Culture: After Oedipus Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-39
Psychoanalysis, Philosophy and Myth in Contemporary Culture: After Oedipus
Voela, A. 2017. Psychoanalysis, Philosophy and Myth in Contemporary Culture: After Oedipus. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Catastrophe Survived? The Failure of the Tragic in Moira Buffini'sWelcome to Thebes
Voela, A. 2013. Catastrophe Survived? The Failure of the Tragic in Moira Buffini'sWelcome to Thebes. Somatechnics. 3 (1), pp. 133-148. https://doi.org/10.3366/soma.2013.0082
The enjoyment of space: the university campus in students’ narratives and photography
Voela, A. 2014. The enjoyment of space: the university campus in students’ narratives and photography. Pedagogy, Culture and Society. 22 (1), pp. 61-78.
Reflexivity, Austerity, and the Value of the Useless
Voela, A. 2016. Reflexivity, Austerity, and the Value of the Useless. Psychotherapy and Politics International. 14 (1), pp. 25-37.
It’s time: Generation and temporality in psychoanalytic feminism
Voela, A. 2016. It’s time: Generation and temporality in psychoanalytic feminism. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 21 (3), pp. 242-248. https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2016.1
Food Banks in East London: Growth by Stealth and Marginalisation by the State
Tsilimpounidi, Myrto, Sampson, A. and Voela, A. 2014. Food Banks in East London: Growth by Stealth and Marginalisation by the State. London University of East London, Centre for Social Justice and Change. https://doi.org/10.15123/PUB.3916
Antigone and her double, Lacan and Baudrillard
Voela, A. 2012. Antigone and her double, Lacan and Baudrillard. Journal for Cultural Research.
Enjoy Their Symptom: Of Woman, Men and Other Interesting Figures in Greek Literary Texts
Voela, A. and Tamboukou, M. 2004. Enjoy Their Symptom: Of Woman, Men and Other Interesting Figures in Greek Literary Texts. Women: a cultural review. 15 (1), pp. 83-100.
Masculinity as Moments of Becoming: an interdisciplinary account
Voela, A. 2005. Masculinity as Moments of Becoming: an interdisciplinary account. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. 1 (2), pp. 85-92.
Death and the Real in Karkavitsas’ Logia tis Ploris’
Voela, A. 2003. Death and the Real in Karkavitsas’ Logia tis Ploris’. Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora. 29 (1), pp. 35-61.
The Construction of the Woman in Karkavitsas’ 'the Slender Girl'
Voela, A. 2005. The Construction of the Woman in Karkavitsas’ 'the Slender Girl'. Modern Greek Studies Australia and New Zealand A Journal for Greek Letters.