Possible maternities: a reading of the Anti-Maternalist Manifesto aiming at the politicization of care as an invitation to emerging matripotency

Abstract

This review is based on Vera Iaconelli's work, entitled "Anti-Maternalist Manifesto: Psychoanalysis and the Politics of Reproduction," in which the author presents a critical analysis of contemporary maternalist discourse, which assigns women exclusive responsibility for caregiving, highlighting its socially and historically constructed character. In light of psychoanalytic theories and a perspective that considers the role of social markers of gender, race, and social class, the author addresses the differentiation between gestating, assuming kinship, and caring for a life. Organized into four chapters, the work discusses collective responsibility for future generations, criticizes the historical constructions that assign caregiving to women, and problematizes public reproduction policies by advocating for the diversification of reproductive and caregiving choices. The work also examines the cultural and ideological norms that underpin dominant discourses and their reproduction in society. The contradictions of maternalism reveal a model of social reproduction that neglects a sense of care and collective responsibility for new generations. In this direction, our reading proposes a dialogue, starting from a brief reflection on the care and role of the mother being politically redefined by the Nigerian sociologist Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyéwúmí's concept of matripotency, whose meaning becomes more complex when incorporating the feeling of shared responsibility for care by the entire community.