What Does It Mean That So Many Mothers Leave Their Families in Twenty-First-Century Swedish Literature?

From 29 November to 2 December, Vilnius University Faculty of Philology invites you to a series of lectures and seminars on maternity and gender studies by Jenny Björklund, professor of gender studies at Uppsala University (Sweden).

What does it mean that so many mothers leave their families in twenty-first-century Swedish literature? The lecture takes its point of departure in this question and explores how novels about mothers who leave can be understood as queer resistance against Swedish-branded ideals of parenthood, family, and reproduction.

Prof. Björklund's current research deals with cultural representations of in/voluntary childlessness, and reproductive decision-making and climate change. Her books include Maternal Abandonment and Queer Resistance in Twenty-First-Century Swedish Literature (2021) and Lesbianism in Swedish Literature: An Ambiguous Affair (2014). Her work has also appeared in Social Science and Medicine, Women’s Studies, Scandinavian Studies, and Contemporary Women’s Writing.

For more information and schedule click here.