Migrant Mothering in Spanish and US Fiction, 1990-2020

Abstract

This dissertation examines the intersection of migration and maternity in recent Spanish and US literature. Using intersectionality, matricentric feminism, feminist mothering, empathy, and Alcoff’s “the problem of speaking for others,” this project analyzes how immigrant mothers are portrayed in recent literature on both sides of the Atlantic. This project suggests that traditional representations of migrant mothers in literature at the end of the 20th century are being replaced or rewired with increasing examples of feminist, empowered, non-normative mothers and daughters during the first two decades of the 21st century in both Spain and the US. Chapter One examines more traditional representations of the migrant mother as the Virgin Mary in a novel by Américo Paredes and three short stories by Francisco Jiménez, Andrés Sorel, and Lourdes Ortiz. Using intersectionality, name, and object study, I observe how migrant mothers are depicted as hard-working, nurturing Virgin Mary archetypes deserving of admiration and empathy. Chapter Two explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters in the context of migration with three novels by Erika Sánchez, Jennine Capó Crucet, and Najat El Hachmi. Using Kristeva´s definition of abjection and exploring images of the taboo, I note how the daughter characters, in order to define themselves, must first empathize with their mothers and understand the intergenerational traumas that are passed down in the migration context. The final chapter analyzes three non-normative representations of immigrant mothering that resist traditional definitions: voluntarily childfree, othermothers, feminist mothers and empowered mothers. These works are by Najat El Hachmi, Julia à lvarez, and Valeria Luiselli. They provide us with mothers who transgress traditional definitions of the “good” mother and test the boundaries of what it means to perform the acts of mothering (Thurer).