As E. Ann Kaplan has said, the mother has traditionally been a paradoxical figure: present but absent, everywhere but nowhere, necessary but existing on the margins of discourse. In recent years, excellent scholarship on motherhood in film has been produced--work that examines motherhood from historical, psychoanalytic, and/or generic perspectives. Nonetheless, further work needs to consider more fully the context(s) within which cinematic representations of motherhood are created. This is a particularly important question for Hollywood films, which are produced within a cultural institution that privileges consumerism, physical culture, and youth. We are accepting submissions for a collection that will investigate Hollywood's paradigm of motherhood in all of its forms. Essays may be close readings and/or historical analyses. They may use any theoretically informed method and treat any stage of motherhood and any period, genre, or style of film. (Comparative approaches that treat motherhood in independent, avant-garde, or international films are also welcomed.)

If interested, please send a 300-500 word proposal, brief bibliography, and vita by April 1, 2004. Completed papers will be due October 1, 2004.

All proposals and correspondence can be sent via e-mail to Elaine Roth at Indiana University South Bend (elaroth@iusb.edu). Other co-editors are Heather Addison (Western Michigan University) and Mary Kate Goodwin-Kelly (Saint Mary's College).