IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v317y2023ics0277953622009078.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theorising mother-baby-assemblages: The vital emergence of maternal health

Author

Listed:
  • Neely, Eva

Abstract

First-time motherhood is a well-studied yet poorly understood determinant of health. Giving birth has significant physical, mental and social health impacts across the life course. Maternal transition research has attempted to understand first-time mothers' psychological and social needs to improve overall health. However, much of this research struggles to capture the fluid and fluctuating nature of affects, senses and bodies across human and non-human spheres, and has reached conceptual saturation. In this paper, I develop mother-baby-assemblages as a way forward in theorising first-time motherhood to better understand how maternal health is produced intra-actively through the relationality between human and non-human actants. I achieve this by plugging into feminist psychoanalytic and new materialist theory, diffractively reading across published qualitative maternal transition literature spanning five decades and enriching affectively through my own mothering encounters. I engage with topics at the forefront of maternal health research, including bodies, babies, vibrant matter, physical and online spaces and paid employment demands. I theorise trans-subjective and more-than-human emergent mother-baby-assemblages that invite relationality and difference over identity and linearity in the becoming-mother to replace human agency with the capacity to affect and be affected through human and non-human forces. I weave together theory, published data and personal encounters to move beyond understanding becoming-mother as a linear process, and instead think of this becoming-through-each-other as mother-baby-assemblages. Maternal health therewith becomes a product of distributed, emerging, fluctuating, and affecting agencies across human and non-human spheres. Such an approach can steer towards health initiatives for first-time mothers that are socio-materially grounded, consider reciprocity of needs, diversify responsibilities for child-rearing, and encourage future scholarship of the human and non-human emergence of maternal health.

Suggested Citation

  • Neely, Eva, 2023. "Theorising mother-baby-assemblages: The vital emergence of maternal health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:317:y:2023:i:c:s0277953622009078
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115601
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622009078
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115601?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Flacking, Renée & Ewald, Uwe & Nyqvist, Kerstin Hedberg & Starrin, Bengt, 2006. "Trustful bonds: A key to "becoming a mother" and to reciprocal breastfeeding. Stories of mothers of very preterm infants at a neonatal unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 70-80, January.
    2. McGovern, Mark E. & Rokicki, Slawa & Reichman, Nancy E., 2022. "Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    3. Sophie Hennekam & Jawad Syed & Faiza Ali & Jean‐Pierre Dumazert, 2019. "A multilevel perspective of the identity transition to motherhood," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 915-933, July.
    4. Qian, Mengcen & Chou, Shin-Yi & Deily, Mary E. & Liu, Jin-Tan, 2018. "Gender inequality, economic growth, and the intergenerational transmission of adverse health consequences at birth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 174-181.
    5. Flacking, Renée & Ewald, Uwe & Starrin, Bengt, 2007. ""I wanted to do a good job": Experiences of 'becoming a mother' and breastfeeding in mothers of very preterm infants after discharge from a neonatal unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2405-2416, June.
    6. Sophie Hennekam & Jawad Syed & Faiza Ali & Jean-Pierre Dumazert, 2019. "A multilevel perspective of the identity transition to motherhood," Post-Print hal-03232775, HAL.
    7. Andrews, Gavin J. & Duff, Cameron, 2019. "Matter beginning to matter: On posthumanist understandings of the vital emergence of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 123-134.
    8. Sharp, Gemma C. & Lawlor, Deborah A. & Richardson, Sarah S., 2018. "It's the mother!: How assumptions about the causal primacy of maternal effects influence research on the developmental origins of health and disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 20-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nina Regenold & Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, 2021. "Gender Matters: A Gender Analysis of Healthcare Workers’ Experiences during the First COVID-19 Pandemic Peak in England," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Jacqueline Elizabeth van Wijlen, 2019. "Breastfeeding woman or lactating object? A critical philosophical discussion on the influence of Cartesian dualism on breastfeeding in the neonatal intensive care unit," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5-6), pages 1022-1031, March.
    3. Gummerus, Johanna & O'Loughlin, Deirdre & Kelleher, Carol & Peñaloza, Lisa, 2021. "Shifting sands: Actor role and identity reconfigurations in service systems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 162-169.
    4. Suttida Sangpoom & Femi Adesina & Chuthamat Kaewchandee & Kannika Sikanna & Natchima Noppapak & Sarunya Maneerattanasak & Shamarina Shohaimi & Charuai Suwanbamrung, 2023. "Levels and Predictors of Proactive Practical Experience to Solve COVID-19 among Public Health Officers in Primary Care Units in the Upper Southern Region, Thailand: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Approa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Eloisio Moulin de Souza, 2022. "Can Mothers Be Heroes? Maternity and Maternal Body Work in Military Firefighters," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 26(sup2022), pages 210193-2101.
    6. Flacking, Renée & Ewald, Uwe & Starrin, Bengt, 2007. ""I wanted to do a good job": Experiences of 'becoming a mother' and breastfeeding in mothers of very preterm infants after discharge from a neonatal unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2405-2416, June.
    7. Andrews, Gavin J. & Duff, Cameron, 2020. "‘Whole onflow’, the productive event: an articulation through health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    8. Sunna Símonardóttir, 2016. "Getting the Green Light: Experiences of Icelandic Mothers Struggling with Breastfeeding," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 82-94, November.
    9. Laetitia Zeeman & Kay Aranda, 2020. "A Systematic Review of the Health and Healthcare Inequalities for People with Intersex Variance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Rich, Emma & Lupton, Deborah, 2022. "Rethinking digital biopedagogies: How sociomaterial relations shape English secondary students' digital health practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    11. Hooker, Claire & Hor, Suyin & Wyer, Mary & Gilbert, Gwendolyn L. & Jorm, Christine & Iedema, Rick, 2020. "Trajectories of hospital infection control: Using non-representational theory to understand and improve infection prevention and control," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    12. Lupton, Deborah & Lewis, Sophie, 2022. "Sociomaterialities of health, risk and care during COVID-19: Experiences of Australians living with a medical condition," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    13. Evalotte Mӧrelius & Kajsa Kling & Eva Haraldsson & Siw Alehagen, 2020. "You can't flight, you need to fight—A qualitative study of mothers' experiences of feeding extremely preterm infants," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(13-14), pages 2420-2428, July.
    14. Camille Bellet & Lindsay Hamilton & Jonathan Rushton, 2021. "Re-thinking public health: Towards a new scientific logic of routine animal health care in European industrial farming," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Janne Weis & Vibeke Zoffmann & Ingrid Egerod, 2014. "Improved nurse–parent communication in neonatal intensive care unit: evaluation and adjustment of an implementation strategy," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(23-24), pages 3478-3489, December.
    16. Dam, Mie S. & Juhl, Sandra M. & Sangild, Per T. & Svendsen,, Mette N., 2017. "Feeding premature neonates: Kinship and species in translational neonatology," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 129-136.
    17. Rhodes, Tim & Lancaster, Kari, 2019. "Evidence-making interventions in health: A conceptual framing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Wu, Qiong & Farley, Tatjana & Cui, Ming, 2021. "Breastfeeding, maternal psychopathological symptoms, and infant problem behaviors among low-income mothers returning to work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    19. Palmquist, Aunchalee E.L. & Holdren, Sarah M. & Fair, Cynthia D., 2020. "“It was all taken away”: Lactation, embodiment, and resistance among mothers caring for their very-low-birth-weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    20. Wiltshire, Gareth & Pullen, Emma & Brown, Frankie F. & Osborn, Mike & Wexler, Sarah & Beresford, Mark & Tooley, Mark & Turner, James E., 2020. "The experiences of cancer patients within the material hospital environment: Three ways that materiality is affective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:317:y:2023:i:c:s0277953622009078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.