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Matrifocality
Matrifocality is a descriptor of an anthropological term, matrifocal, and literally means “mother focused.” The term most often describes a kinship system that is matriarchal or female-headed in nature, e.g., the matrifocal family. Matrifocal families are characteristic of several cultures, including the Javanese, the Igbo of West Africa, and the Mescalero Apaches. Still, its most mainstream Western use is in describing the families of African Americans and other cultures of the African diaspora, most especially those from lower socioeconomic classes. It has a noted history of being used to describe the so-called social pathologies of these specific communities.
Matrifocality emerges as a topic of debate because its very nature openly challenges the Western normality of the nuclear family. Though it has a pejorative history because ...
- History of Motherhood
- Bible, Mothers in the
- Clytemnestra
- History of Motherhood: 1000 to 1500
- History of Motherhood: 1500 to 1750
- History of Motherhood: 1750 to 1900
- History of Motherhood: 1900 to Present
- History of Motherhood: 2000 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E.
- History of Motherhood: American
- History of Motherhood: Ancient Civilizations
- History of Motherhood: Middle Ages
- History of Motherhood: Renaissance
- Jocasta
- Medea
- Myth, Mothers in
- Issues in Motherhood
- “Bad” Mothers
- Abortion
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Attachment Parenting
- Bisexuality
- Body Image
- Celebrity Motherhood
- Child Poverty
- Class and Mothering
- Code Pink
- Conflict Zones, Mothering in
- Co-Parenting
- Cybermothering
- Employment and Motherhood
- Empowered Mothering
- Ethics of Care
- Ethics, Maternal
- Freud, Sigmund
- Girlhood and Motherhood
- Lone Mothers
- Maternal Absence
- Maternal Agency
- Media, Mothers in
- Momism Generation of Vipers
- Motherhood Denied
- Mothering as Work
- Mothering Versus Motherhood
- Mothers' Pensions/Allowances
- Mothers Who Leave
- Myths of Motherhood: Good/Bad
- New Momism
- Nonresidential Mother
- Older Mothers
- Opt-Out Revolution
- Peace and Mothering
- Planned Parenthood
- Poverty and Mothering
- Pronatalism
- Prostitution and Motherhood
- Race and Racism
- Refugee Mothers
- Reproductive Justice/Rights Movements
- Second Shift/Third Shift
- Security Mom
- SisterSong
- Slavery and Mothering
- Social Action and Motherhood
- Spock, Benjamin
- Taxation and Motherhood
- Technology and Motherhood
- Teen Mothers
- Terrorism and Mothering
- Third Wave Foundation
- Transgender Parenting
- Transracial Mothering
- Unions and Mothers
- Unpaid Work
- Unwed Mothers
- War and Mothers
- Welfare and Mothering
- Welfare Warriors
- Work and Mothering
- Working-Class Mothers
- Motherhood and Family
- Absentee Mothers
- Adolescent Children
- Adult Children
- African American Mothers
- Alpha Mom
- Beta Mom
- Birth Mothers
- Care Giving
- Child Abuse
- Child Custody and the Law
- Childcare
- Childhood
- Childlessness
- Children
- Community Mothering
- Co-Mothering
- Dating and Single Mothers
- Daughter-Centricity
- Daughters and Mothers
- Daycare
- Disabled Mothers
- Discipline of Children
- Divorce
- Education and Mothering
- Empty Nest
- Family
- Family Planning
- Family Values
- Fathers and Fathering
- Father's Rights Movement
- Foster Mothering
- Full-Time Mothering
- Grandmothers and Grandmothering
- Grief, Loss of Child
- Home Birth
- Home Schooling
- Homeplace
- Housework
- Humor and Motherhood
- Incarcerated Mothers
- Incest
- Infant Mortality
- Infanticide
- Infertility
- Intensive Mothering
- Internet and Mothering
- Lesbian Mothering
- LGBTQ Families and Motherhood
- Marriage
- Maternity Leave
- Matriarchy
- Mental Illness and Mothers
- Midlife Mothering
- Military Mothers
- Mother Role Versus Wife Role
- Mother-in-Law
- Motherless Daughters
- Motherline
- Mothers and Multiple Partners
- Mothers of Multiples
- Nannies
- Single Mothers
- Soccer Mom
- Stay-at-Home Mothers
- Stepmothers
- Young Mothers
- Motherhood and Health
- Advice Literature for Mothers
- AIDS/HIV and Mothering
- Alcoholism
- Anxiety
- Artificial Insemination
- Attention Deficit Disorder
- Autism
- Becoming a Mother
- Birth Control
- Birth Goddesses
- Breastfeeding
- Breastmilk
- Cancer and Motherhood
- Childbirth
- Depression
- Displacement
- Domestic Labor
- Doula
- Drug Abuse
- Eating Disorders
- Emotions
- Environments and Mothering
- Eugenics
- Fertility
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Guilt
- Learning Disabilities
- Maternal Alienation
- Maternal Bodies
- Maternal Desire
- Maternal Eroticism
- Maternal Feminism
- Maternal Health
- Maternal Power/Powerlessness
- Maternal Practice
- Miscarriage
- Mommy Brain
- Mother Blame
- Mothering and Creativity
- Mothering Children With Disabilities
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
- Natural Mothering
- Nursing (Profession) and Motherhood
- Obesity and Motherhood
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Overwhelmed Mothers
- Postmaternity
- Postpartum Depression
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Health Care
- Reproduction
- Reproduction of Mothering
- Reproductive Labor
- Reproductive Technologies
- Sexuality and Mothering
- Sons and Mothers
- Sterilization
- Stillbirth
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
- Surrogate Motherhood
- Violence Against Mothers/Children
- Wet Nursing
- Motherhood and Society
- Activist Mothers of the Disappeared
- Adoption
- Angel in the House
- Art and Mothering
- Autobiographies
- Brain, Child
- Buddhism and Mothering
- Carework
- Caribbean Mothers
- Chicana Mothering
- Christianity and Mothers
- Cultural Bearing
- Demeter Press
- DES Mothers
- Dramatic Arts, Mothers in
- Earth Mothers
- Equatorial Guinea
- Ethnic Mothers
- European Union
- Fairy Tales, Mothers in
- Film, Mothers in
- First Nations
- Gift Economy
- Hinduism
- Hip Mama
- Honduras
- Immigrant Mothers
- Islam and Motherhood
- Jewish Mothers
- Judaism and Motherhood
- La Leche League
- Latina Mami
- Law and Mothering
- Literary Mama
- Literature, Mothers in
- Mainstreet Moms
- Mamapalooza
- Mamazon
- Mammy
- Mask of Motherhood
- Maternal Wall
- Mexican Spirituality and Motherhood
- Midwifery
- Migration and Mothers
- Militarism and Mothering
- Million Mom March
- Modernism and Motherhood
- Mommy Blogs
- Mommy Lit
- Mommy Track
- Mommy Wars
- MomsRising
- Mother Centers International Network for Empowerment
- Mother Country
- Mother Earth
- Mother Goddess
- Mother Jones
- Mother Nature
- Mother Wit
- Mother-Daughter Project
- Motherhood Memoirs
- Motherhood Movement
- Motherhood Penalty
- Motherhood Poets
- Motherhood Project
- Motherhood Studies
- Mothers Acting Up (MAU)
- Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
- Mothers and More (MAM)
- Mothers Are Women (MAW)
- Mother's Day
- Mothers Movement Online (MMO)
- Mothers of the Intifada
- Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
- Mothers Ought To Have Equal Rights (MOTHERS)
- Museum of Motherhood
- Music and Mothers
- National Association of Mothers' Centers
- National Organization for Women
- Native Americans
- Nazi Germany
- Organizations
- Other Mothering
- Peace Movements and Mothering
- Poetry, Mothers in
- Poland
- Politics and Mothers
- Popular Culture and Mothering
- Preschool Children
- Public Policy and Mothers
- Religion and Mothering
- Republican Motherhood
- Residential School and Mothers/First Nations
- Roman Mothers
- Royal Mothers
- Rural Mothers
- Save the Mothers
- Sociology of Motherhood
- South Asian Mothers/Mothering
- Spirituality and Mothering
- Sports and Mothers
- Starhawk
- Suffrage Movement and Mothers
- Teachers as Mothers
- TV Moms
- Wicca and Mothering
- Zines
- Motherhood around the World
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Congo
- Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- East Timor
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- France
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia (Nation)
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece (and Ancient Greece)
- Guam
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
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- Kenya
- Korea, North
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- Kuwait
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- Laos
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- Lebanon
- Lesotho
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- Lithuania
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mexico
- Micronesia, Federated States of
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- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
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- Netherlands
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- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
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- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palestine
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- Papua New Guinea
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- Peru
- Philippines
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- Rwanda
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- Saudi Arabia
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- Sierra Leone
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- Somalia
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- Sudan
- Suriname
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- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- Motherhood in the United States
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
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- Maryland
- Massachusetts
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- Oklahoma
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- Rhode Island
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- Texas
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- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Motherhood Studies
- Aboriginal Mothering
- Academe and Mothering
- Activism, Maternal
- African Diaspora
- Ambivalence, Maternal
- Animal Species and Motherhood
- Anthropology of Mothering
- Anti-Racist Mothering
- Association for Research on Mothering
- Biography and Motherhood
- Birth Imagery, Metaphor, and Myth
- Capitalism and Motherhood
- Civil Rights Movement and Motherhood
- Communism and Motherhood
- Consumerism and Motherhood
- Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Motherhood
- Dialectics of Reproduction
- Ecofeminism and Mothering
- Economics of Motherhood
- Economy and Motherhood
- Ectogenesis
- Essentialism and Mothering
- Feminism and Mothering
- Feminist Mothering
- Feminist Theory and Mothering
- Future of Motherhood
- Genocide and Motherhood
- Globalization and Mothering
- Idealization of Mothers
- Infidelity and Motherhood
- Institution of Motherhood
- Intergenerational Trauma
- International Mothers Network
- Journal for the Association for Research on Mothering
- Maternal Abject (Kristeva)
- Maternal Authenticity
- Maternal Künstlerroman
- Maternal Mortality
- Maternal Pedogogy
- Maternal Subjectivities
- Maternal Thinking (Ruddick)
- Matricide
- Matrifocality
- Matrilineal
- Matrophobia
- Matroreform
- Mauritius
- Mother Outlaws (Group)
- Mother Outlaws (Rich)
- Mother/Daughter Plot (Hirsch)
- Motherhood Endowment (Rathbone)
- Motherself
- Nationalism and Motherhood
- New French Feminism and Motherhood
- Noncustodial Mother
- Paganism (New Paganism) and Mothering
- Patriarchal Ideology of Motherhood
- Philosophy and Motherhood
- Postcolonialism and Mothering
- Price of Motherhood (Crittenden)
- Psychoanalysis and Motherhood
- Psychology of Motherhood
- Scientific Motherhood
- Self-Identity
- Semiotic, Maternal (Kristeva)
- Sensitive Mothering (Walkerdine and Lucey)
- Social Construction of Motherhood
- Social Reproduction
- Transnationalism
- Waring, Marilyn
- Warner, Judith (Motherhood Religion)
- Prominent Mothers
- Adams, Abigail (Smith)
- Allende, Isabel
- Atwood, Margaret
- Benjamin, Jessica
- Bernard, Jesse
- Blakely, Mary Kay
- Bombeck, Erma
- Brooks, Gwendeolyn
- Buchanan, Andrea
- Bush, Barbara
- Caplan, Paula J.
- Chodorow, Nancy
- Cisneros, Sandra
- Clifton, Lucille
- Clinton, Hillary Rodham
- Collins, Patricia Hill
- Columbus, Christopher, Mother of
- Crittenden, Ann
- Da Vinci, Leonardo, Mother of
- Danticat, Edwidge
- de Beauvoir, Simone
- de Marneffe, Daphne
- Demeter, Goddess
- Dinnerstein, Dorothy
- DiQuinzio, Patrice
- Dove, Rita
- Edelman, Hope
- Edison, Thomas, Mother of
- Einstein, Albert, Mother of
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Elizabeth, “Queen Mum”
- Emecheta, Buchi
- Empress Matilda
- Erdrich, Louise
- Firestone, Shulamith
- Forcey, Linda Rennie
- Fox, Faulkner
- Freud, Sigmund, Mother of
- Friedan, Betty
- Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
- Gore, Ariel
- Harper, Frances E.W.
- Hays, Sharon
- Hemings, Sally
- Hitler, Adolf, Mother of
- Hochschild, Arlie Russell
- Hong Kingston, Maxine
- hooks, bell
- Hrdy, Sara Blaffer
- Jackson, Marni
- Jacobs, Harriet
- Jarvis, Anna
- Jefferson, Thomas, Mother of
- Johnson, Miriam
- Kennedy Onassis, Jacqueline
- Kincaid, Jamaica
- Kristeva, Julia
- Kumin, Maxine Winokur
- Lamott, Annie
- Laurence, Margaret
- Lazarre, Jane
- Lessing, Doris
- Lewin, Ellen
- Lincoln, Abraham, Mother of
- Lindbergh, Anne Morrow
- Lorde, Audre
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- Maushart, Susan
- Mead, Margaret
- Mink, Gwendolyn
- Moraga, Cherríe
- Morrison, Toni
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
- Oakley, Ann
- Obama, Michelle
- O'Brien, Mary
- Olds, Sharon
- Olson, Tillie
- Ostriker, Alicia
- Paley, Grace Goodrich
- Palin, Sarah
- Parks, Rosa
- Pearson, Allison
- Plath, Sylvia
- Pollack, Sandra
- Pratt, Minnie Bruce
- Reagan, Nancy
- Rich, Adrienne
- Roberts, Dorothy
- Ross, Loretta
- Rothman, Barbara Katz
- Ruddick, Sara
- Sanger, Margaret
- Sexton, Anne
- Sheehan, Cindy
- Shelly, Mary
- Shriver, Lionel
- Solinger, Rickie
- Spencer, Anna Garlin
- Stalin, Joseph, Mother of
- Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
- Stone, Lucy
- Suleiman, Susan Rubin
- Tan, Amy
- Thurer, Shari
- Waldman, Ayelet
- Walker, Alice
- Warner, Judith
- Washington, George, Mother of
- Wollstonecraft, Mary
- Womanism
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