Reflecting on the Past: The Role of Biographical, Familial and Social Memory in New Mothers’ Interpretations of Emotional Experiences in Early Parenthood

Becoming a mother occasions multiple, intersecting changes in a woman’s life: bodily, biographical, relational and social. Many women in contemporary Australia find the adjustment to motherhood more challenging than anticipated, contributing to feelings of ambivalence or distress. Based on interview data, this chapter explores women’s tendency to look towards the past—revisiting personal and family histories and reflecting on sociocultural changes they felt had affected mothering—to make sense of complex affective experiences during the transition to motherhood and construct a desired maternal self. Drawing on insights from feminist psychoanalysis, sociology and oral history, the chapter’s findings reveal the significance of memory (personal and collective) as a resource for the reflexive reworking of identity in times of personal transition and an impetus to social critique.