Frontera Madre(hood)

Book excerpt: The topic of mothers and mothering transcends all spaces, from popular culture to intellectual thought and critique. This collection of essays bridges both methodological and theoretical frameworks to explore forms of mothering that challenge hegemonic understandings of parenting and traditional notions of Latinx womxnhood. It articulates the collective experiences of Latinx, Black, and Indigenous mothering from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Thirty contributors discuss their lived experiences, research, or community work challenging multiple layers of oppression, including militarization of the border, border security propaganda, feminicides, drug war and colonial violence, grieving and loss of a child, challenges and forms of resistance by Indigenous mothers, working mothers in maquiladoras, queer mothering, academia and motherhood, and institutional barriers by government systems to access affordable health care and environmental justice. Also central to this collection are questions on how migration and detention restructure forms of mothering. Overall, this collection encapsulates how mothering is shaped by the geopolitics of border zones, which also transcends biological, sociological, or cultural and gendered tropes regarding ideas of motherhood, who can mother, and what mothering personifies. Contributors Elva M. Arredondo Cynthia Bejarano Bertha A. Bermúdez Tapia Margaret Brown Vega Macrina Cárdenas Montaño Claudia Yolanda Casillas Luz Estela (Lucha) Castro Marisa Elena Duarte Taide Elena Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla Paula Flores Bonilla Judith Flores Carmona Sandra Gutiérrez Ma. Eugenia Hernández Sánchez Irene Lara Leticia López Manzano Mariana Martinez Maria Cristina Morales Paola Isabel Nava Gonzales Olga Odgers-Ortiz Priscilla Pérez Silvia Quintanilla Moreno Cirila Quintero Ramírez Felicia Rangel-Samponaro Coda Rayo-Garza Shamma Rayo-Gutierrez Marisol Rodríguez Sosa Brenda Rubio Ariana Saludares Victoria M. Telles Michelle Téllez Marisa S. Torres Edith Treviño Espinosa Mariela Vásquez Tobon Hilda Villegas