Beyond Mother Goddesses

Florence Pasche Guignard is Professor in the Study of Religions at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the Université Laval, in Quebec City, Canada. Her research explores the intersection of religions with gender, women’s history, motherhood, ritual, and material culture.Pascale Engelmajer is Professor of Religious Studies at Carroll University. She researches and publishes widely on Buddhism, with a focus on ancient Buddhist conceptualizations of motherhood and mothering.Sucharita Sarkar is Professor of English, D.T.S.S College of Commerce, Mumbai, member of the Board of Studies in English at the University of Mumbai, and invited member of the Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, Mumbai. Her doctoral thesis investigated mothering narratives in contemporary India.Giulia Pedrucci is a researcher in the History of Religions and Classical Archaeology, holding degrees from the Universities of Bologna and Parma and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology of the Ancient World from the University of Siena. Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Comenius University in Bratislava, she investigates the religious dimensions of motherhood in ancient Mediterranean societies.

• Introduction: Beyond Mother Goddesses? 1. Interview of Karen Derris about the article “Interpreting Buddhist Representations of Motherhood and Mothering” (2014) 2. Interview of Reiko Ohnuma about the book Ties That Bind: Maternal Imagery and Discourse in Indian Buddhism (2012) 3. Interview of Amrita Nandy about the book Motherhood and Choice: Uncommon Mothers, Childfree Women (2017) 4. Interview of Maithreyi Krishnaraj about the book Motherhood in India: Glorification without Empowerment? (2010) 5. Interview of Anu Aneja & Shubhangi Vaidya about the book Embodying Motherhood: Perspectives from Contemporary India (2016) 6. Interview of Francis X. Clooney about the book Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary (2005) 7. Interview of Philippe Borgeaud about the book La Mère des dieux. De Cybèle à la Vierge Marie (1996) 8. Interview of Massimo Cultraro about the chapter “Maternità asimmetriche: meccanismi di riproduzione-produzione sociale e dinamiche simboliche nella Grecia micena” (2017) 9. Interview of Silvia Romani about the book Nascite speciali. Usi e abusi del modello biologico del parto e della gravidanza nel mondo antico (2004) 10. Interview of Roberta Franchi about the book La maternità nel mondo classico e cristiano: miti e modelli (2018-2019) 11. Interview of Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder about the book When Momma Speaks: The Bible and Motherhood from a Womanist Perspectives (2016) Conclusion: Charting New Directions in the Study of Motherhood and Religions