Demeter Press is seeking scholarly and creative submissions for an edited collection tentatively titled Mothers and Domestic Violence.

Editors: Michele McIntosh, Tracy Royce, Valerie R. Stackman, and Patricia Breton

Deadline for Abstracts: June 1, 2015

It is estimated that over a million North American women are assaulted by a current or former intimate partner each year, and over 3 million children witness domestic violence annually. For those mothers who experience what is variously known as domestic violence, partner abuse, intimate partner violence, or intimate terrorism, motherwork entails not only attempts to preserve the safety of self and child, but negotiating a legal system that sometimes criminalizes battered mothers for “failure to protect” their children.

This anthology aims to examine the intersection of mothering and domestic violence from a feminist perspective that foregrounds the lived realities of battered mothers and their children. We seek scholarly works from a broad range of academic disciplines, as well as interdisciplinary work and creative submissions. We welcome original empirical studies (including phenomenological research and critical qualitative inquiry), review papers, social and cultural critique, personal narratives, short fiction, and poetry.

All submissions should be original work not previously published elsewhere.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

Domestic violence during pregnancy; the impact of partner abuse on breastfeeding and childrearing; tactics of abuse that exploit mothers’ love of their children; medical communities’ response to battered mothers; battered mothers and intervention by law enforcement and child protective services; the impact of so-called “failure to protect” laws; mother-child solidarity within abusive households; children who are incarcerated for defending their mothers from abusers; battered mothers who are incarcerated; lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender mothers’ experiences with partner abuse and mainstream legal and social institutions; battered women of color and the justice system; the intersection of domestic violence and reproductive justice; representations of mothers and domestic violence in news accounts, film, and other media; battered mothers, resistance, and social movements; children’s and adult children’s experiences of witnessing their mother’s abuse.

Submission Guidelines:

An abstract of 250 words (longer proposals are welcome) and a brief 50-word bio indicating citizenship should be sent directly tomothersanddv@gmail.com by June 1, 2015, subject heading: “Mothers and Domestic Violence abstract.” For creative prose submissions, please specify type in the body of your submission email (fiction versus creative nonfiction/memoir/personal essay).

Contributors will be responsible for ensuring that manuscripts adhere to MLA style. Completed manuscripts of 2000-4500 words (8-18 double spaced pages, including all references and endnotes; final length of creative works to be negotiated with the editors) will be due by October 1, 2015. Please note that final acceptance for publication will depend upon the strength and fit of the manuscript.