Othermother

Part of a series on
Feminism
Women Girls Femininity
History Social Feminist history History of feminism Women's history American British Canadian German Timelines Women's suffrage Muslim countries US Other women's rights Suffrage by country Australia Canada Japan Kuwait New Zealand Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Wales United States In states Utah Waves First Second Third Fourth
Variants (general) Analytical Anarchist Atheist Conservative Cultural Cyber Difference Eco- Vegetarian Equality Fat French French post-structuralist Gender Global Hip-hop/Activism Individualist Labor Lesbian Radical lesbians Liberal Equity Lipstick Material Maternal Neo- New Post- Postcolonial Postmodern Anti-abortion Post-structural Multicultural Black Chicana Indigenous Kurdish (Jineology) Native American Radical Separatist Sex-positive Social Socialist Marxist Standpoint Third world Trans Transnational Womanism Africana
Variants (religious) Buddhist Christian Mormon Neopagan Dianic Wicca Reclaiming Hindu Islamic Jewish Orthodox Sikh
Concepts Criticism of marriage Literature Children's literature Effects on society Embedded feminism Equality Female education Female genital mutilation Femicide Feminism in culture Feminist movement African-American women's suffrage movement Art movement In hip hop Feminist stripper Gender equality Girl power Honor killing International Girl's Day and Women's Day Language reform Male gaze Matriarchal religion Media Men in feminism Misogyny Networked feminism Oedipus complex Opposition to feminism Political lesbianism Lesbian separatism Pro-feminism Protofeminism Purplewashing Reproductive justice Sex workers' rights Sexual harassment Sexual objectification Socialist feminism State feminism Theory in composition studies Triple oppression Victim feminism Violence against women Views on BDSM Views on pornography Views on prostitution Views on sexual orientation Views on sexuality Views on transgender topics War on Women White feminism Women's health Women's rights
Theory Feminist method Gender studies Gender mainstreaming Gynocentrism Kyriarchy Matriarchy Women's studies Men's studies Patriarchy Écriture féminine Feminist... anthropology archaeology architecture art art criticism literary criticism film theory biology composition studies criminology pathways perspective economics fpda geography international relations constructivism legal theory pedagogy philosophy aesthetics empiricism epistemology ethics justice ethics existentialism metaphysics political ecology political theory pornography psychology revisionist mythology science fiction sex wars sexology sociology technoscience theology thealogy womanist theology
By country Albania Australia Bangladesh Canada China Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Egypt Ethiopia Finland France Germany Ghana Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Republic of Ireland Feminism in Israel Italy Japan Latin America Argentina Brazil Chile Haiti Honduras Mexico Feminism in Paraguay Trinidad and Tobago Lebanon Malaysia Mali Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Northern Cyprus Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Russia Syria South Africa South Korea Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam Ukraine United Kingdom United States History of women
Lists and categories Lists Articles Feminists by nationality Literature American feminist literature Feminist comic books Conservative feminisms Countries by women's average years in school Ecofeminist authors Feminist art critics Feminist economists Feminist philosophers Feminist poets Feminist rhetoricians Jewish feminists Muslim feminists Feminist parties Suffragists and suffragettes Women's rights activists Women's studies journals Women's suffrage organizations Categories Women's rights by country Feminists by nationality
Feminism portal

For the fictional character "Other Mother", see Coraline

An othermother is a woman caring for children who are not biologically her own.

Scope

Othermothers are women, including mothers, who provide care for children who are not biologically their own. The institution of othermothers was a common practice in African-American communities in America since early as slavery and has roots in the traditional African world-view. "Care" could be in the form of providing a meal, essentially adopting the child, or simply supplying guidance. Othermothers believed that "good mothering" comprises all actions, including social activism, which addressed the needs of their biological children as well as the greater community.

Stanlie M. James defines the concept of the community othermother as the women in African-American communities who assist blood mothers in the responsibilities in child care for short to long-term periods, in informal or formal arrangements.^[1] James finds that othermothers are usually over the age of 40 because they must have a sense of the community's culture and tradition before they can exercise their care and wisdom on the community. Othermothers are politically active in their community, as they critique members and provide strategies to improve their environment.^[2]

A study by sociologist Cheryl Gilkes examines women leaders in a Northern, urban community. Gilkes suggests that community othermother relationships can be essential in stimulating black women's decisions to become social activists. Many of the black women community activists in her study became involved in community organizing in response to the needs of their own children and of those in the neighborhood.^[3]

Patricia Hill Collins discusses the othermother relationship and references Gilkes study. Patricia Hill Collins explains othermothers as women who held the family infrastructure together by their virtues of caring, ethics, teaching, and community service. They can be sisters, aunts, neighbors, grandmothers, cousins, or any other woman who steps in to relieve some stress of intimate mother-daughter relationships. They are considered to be the backbone of the black race and give anything that they can to communities, and often what they cannot. Collins also discusses the "mothering the mind" relationships that can develop between black othermothers and other females who effectively become their students. These relationships move toward the mutuality of a shared sisterhood that binds black women as community othermothers. Community othermothers have made dramatic contributions by creating a new type of community in often hostile political and economic situations. Collins concludes by stating that othermothers' participation in activist mothering demonstrates a rejection of individualism and adapts a different value system where ethics of caring and personal accountability move communities forward.^[4]

Today, the concept of the othermother is present within the urban elementary schools, and African-American female educators play an integral role in fulfilling the psychological and educational needs of the urban child.

See also

• Coparenting
• LGBT parenting
• Second parent adoption
• Interpersonal relationship
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
• Black matriarchy

References