I first approached Lynn Kuechle about the idea of a degreed program in Mother Studies in 2007. During the period of 2008-2009 we brought the idea to Jocelyn Fenton Stitt. Administrators at Minnesota State facilitated the process of introducing this course of study, but later abandoned it. Since I was peripheral to MSU, there was little I could do.
Our “team” did work to make headway, and Jocelyn agreed to help write a grant for a filmed version of a conference held in Toronto in 2008, which gathered pioneers in the new area of a “motherhood movement.”
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From: Stitt, Jocelyn F
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 9:56 AM
To: Kuechle, Lynn Christine
Subject: Re: grant for mother film
Hi Lynn,
I’m happy to help. Can you send me more about the grant? The main thing with grants, as you probably know, is to craft the wording of your project so that it matches their goals.
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On 2/18/09 9:52 AM, “Kuechle, Lynn Christine” <lynn.kuechle@mnsu.edu> wrote:
Hi Jocelyn,
Joy and I are applying for a grant to fund the film that was started in Toronto. I was wondering if you would be able to write a letter of support. Unfortunately, it’s due Friday. Joy asked a number of people, but so far nothing has come through. If you could put something together stating the support this film has from you, that’d be great.
Sorry this is so last minute. If you can’t I understand. Let me know. Lynn
Here is the some of the text for the narrative:
The film, The Motherhood Movement, “You Say You Want a Revolution?”, Maternal Feminist Perspectives in the 21st Century, will capture a wide range of subjects regarding the 21st Century Motherhood Movement and contemporary feminist perspectives in academia and beyond. Our project is a film on the subject of Feminist Motherhood. Currently titled ‘The Motherhood Movement’ – You Say You Want a Revolution in collaboration with the Association For Research On Mothering and The Motherhood Foundation Inc (MFI). The film seeks to promote, showcase, and make visible maternal discussion and to disseminate information on the subject of Feminist Mothers and Feminist Mothering for broad public consumption.
This film serves as a platform to promote maternal studies (what I was calling it in ’08- MJR) both at the university and community level, by bringing together interested individuals to share their insights, experiences, ideas, stories, studies and concerns about mothering and motherhood. MFI and Association For Research On Mothering are concerned with the inclusion of all mothers including First Nations mothers, immigrant and refugee mothers, working-class mothers, lesbian mothers, mothers with disabilities, mothers of colour, and mothers of other marginalized groups. This film would be made available at university level, women’s studies groups and feminist organizations like the Women’s Media Center, and also distributed and screened at future maternal conferences, gatherings and festivals and shopped to public television. We began filming at the first-ever international summit on Mothering in Toronto, CA in October 2008, and have begun the process of digitizing, but need additional funds to complete filming and editing of this important work.
Lynn Kuechle
Instructor
Speech Communication
307B Armstrong Hall
389-2510
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The proposal for a degreed program in Mother Studies at MSU looked like this:
The proposal went nowhere ultimately. We did end up offering online workshops in 2012 in partnership with MSU and the Museum of Motherhood:
The workshops were not the true direction for what I hoped for. I wanted rigorous academic curriculum available to students on the topic of Mother Studies. This is what the proposal for a degreed course of study looked like:
In 2013 Jocelyn Fenton Stitt did manage to push through an online graduate course in “Mothering Studies”, which I took, of course.
The “Foundations of Mothering Studies” course description is below:
