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Witches as Mothers

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Feminist Afterlives of the Witch

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender ((PSRG))

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Abstract

This chapter contends with the vast body of literature that imbricates (often through negation) the figure of the witch and the maternal. This occurs within both feminist and anti-feminist paradigms, and the mnemonic afterlives of overlapping and paradoxical discourses of the witch mother generate a great deal of complexity and paradox within representations of the witch in popular culture texts. This chapter interrogates how the mother is approached within competing feminist discourses and politics and how this haunts popular culture representations of the witch as mother (or as anti-mother). Texts which reiterate the historic anti-maternity of the witch, that invoke the spectre of goddess feminism and the mother goddess, and that turn to a deathly model of witch-maternity are analysed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Creative Writing, and Film, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Brydie Kosmina

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  1. Brydie Kosmina
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Correspondence to Brydie Kosmina .

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Kosmina, B. (2023). Witches as Mothers. In: Feminist Afterlives of the Witch. Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25292-1_6

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