Gordana Eljdupovic and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich (Eds), Incarcerated mothers: Oppression and resistance
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815595766 |
| Author | Rebecca Wallis |
| Published date | 01 December 2015 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
The book concludes by observing that a misogynistic medical field persecuted several
women in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Britain. This critique is extended to encom-
pass pediatric medicine and pathology, highlighting limitations in science and diagnostic
consensus as contributors to unjust convictions. The author implicates the whole of the
medical profession rather than a few individual errors. Further, what is not discussed in
depth is that internationally, guidelines about appropriate expert medical testimony exist
and are meant to be followed; a whole profession is not to blame if an individual does
not do so.
In sum, Female Criminality may be helpful for those seeking an understanding of
baby-farming and moral panic, but it may be less useful to those seeking a thorough
understanding of current research regarding infanticide and neonaticide. While redun-
dant descriptions of moral panic and the sexed female body make the book unnecessarily
long, it is quite thin regarding modern research into neonaticide and infanticide.
References
Friedman, S. H., Cavney, J., & Resnick, P. J. (2012). Child murder by parents and evolutionary
psychology. Psychiatric Clinics of North America,35(4), 781–795.
Friedman, S. H., & Resnick, P. J. (2009). Neonaticide: Phenomenology and considerations for
prevention. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry,32(1), 43–47.
Krischer, M. K., Stone, M. H., Sevecke, K., & Steinmeyer, E. M. (2007). Motives for maternal
filicide: Results from a study with female forensic patients. International Journal of Law and
Psychiatry,30(3), 191–200.
Gordana Eljdupovic and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich (Eds), Incarcerated mothers: Oppression and resis-
tance. Demeter Press: Bradford, 2013; 230 pp. ISBN 9781927335031, $34.95 (pbk)
Reviewed by: Rebecca Wallis, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University
This collection of essays edited by Eljdupovic and Bromwich explores how the dynamics
of oppression shape women’s experiences of motherhood in prison. As a whole, the
volume provides insight into the ways in which social constructions of motherhood
influence both the operation of prison systems and mothers’ lived experiences in
prison. The collection also provides a welcome cross-national and comparative examin-
ation of how mothers experience and respond to the prison environment. Although
Canadian perspectives dominate the collection, there are also important contributions
highlighting the experiences of incarcerated mothers in France, the United States, India,
Portugal and Australia. The diversity of perspectives presented is unprecedented in this
field, and despite obvious cross-national differences, the volume reminds us that oppres-
sion is a universal experience in the lives of socially marginalised women.
As the title suggests, the essays in this collection strive to achieve two main goals.
The first is to explore how social contexts, particularly the operation of power and
patriarchy, construct ‘motherhood’ in ways that can be used to oppress women.
The second is to explore how imprisoned women resist oppression, and how they
attempt to reclaim or redefine motherhood in a carceral setting. To do this, the collection
includes other kinds of texts, such as photographs and poetry, in addition to traditional
academic essays. Because this collection privileges this perspective of motherhood,
596 Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 48(4)
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