A re-reading of the data on the social construction

of motherhood in the Arabian Gulf.

 
Radhika Viruru
viruru@tamu.edu
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Background of study Reading the data

• The ideology of “intense mothering” suggests that mothers must locate
themselves primarily and supremely as mothers before they are anything else
(Hays, 1996).
• Recent scholarship that has tried to “rupture the static vision” of the universal,
idealized, self sacrificing, good intense mother, by complicating this picture with
accounts of actual mothers in actual spaces, living the daily life of mothers in
specific social and geographical contexts
• Traditional notions of “good” mothers based on White, married, Christian,
middle-class, heterosexual norms.
• Mainstream feminism has seen the family as locus of oppression whereas others
have found refuge and resistance in mothering. Methods for rereading the data
• In Qatar change has been so rapid that many families are trying to make sense of
it and are reluctant to discuss family issues with outsiders. Deep sense of • Decolonizing methodologies (Tuhiwai-Smith, 2012).
ambivalence about own culture (Viruru, 2011). • In the Gulf, “continue to keep intact their heritage (thurath) through their
• New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles have called Qatar “glittering, folk literature, social folk customs and beliefs, nabati folk poetry, proverbs,
empty shell”, which takes the best from all over the world, but has nothing of riddles and folk songs” (Ahammed 2015).
substance at home to offer in return (Asmi, 2013). • Communication is “always poetic and symbolic in nature, always appealing to
• Where do the experiences of Qatari women fit in this picture as Qatar remakes the emotions of the listener, and is also vivid in its descriptions in order to
itself? send a message
• Re-examination of data focusing not on unitized data but on
• Initial analysis showed the powerful influence of forces such as patriarchy and
stories/anecdotes/proverbs/descriptions that were told by mothers as part of
the institution of motherhood..
the interviews.

Mothering in context
Research Questions • Love:
• Love.. When I see them I see love, I want to see their future.. their
• How do Qatari women describe motherhood, in light of the conflicting discourses education.. don’t want them to be quickly satisfied with their education and
of motherhood that are currently circulating? religion.. I want them to grow.
• Has the wealth generated through Qatar’s natural resources created more • I like her to explore, like her to fall and then I help her get up. Because in real
opportunities for women? life no one is there to tell you what to do all the time
• How do Qatari women negotiate their identities as mothers within changing • We are friends. We love each other too much. When I was sick, I was in the
family structures, including extended family networks? hospital for 2 weeks.. kids did not want to go to school, cried in the morning,
even if their father takes then, they feel like something is missing.. they want
to sleep with me in the hospital. When I am back, they are happy, noisy.
Study procedures • Strength:
• Approximately 280 women surveyed. • When we married, he told me I want 12 kids. So I told him what I am, am I a
• 30 qualitative interviews: chicken, can I bring eggs and have a child? But yearly we had babies and
– Mostly Qatari nationals. somehow it went quickly.. I don’t feel like I gave birth to so many. Never felt
– All identified as Muslim. it until now.
• Life was so hard that people had to be very tough and rough. The way of life
– 3 fathers.
here was very tough.. no oil, no gas.. stealing, lt was a norm. Stealing was a
– Surveys in both English and Arabic. way to show your manhood.
– Paper and electronic copies. • Support:
– Some interviews conducted in English, others in Arabic with translator. • in Qatar, our culture, when the mother goes from hospital goes to mother’s
– Respondents had the freedom not to answer particular questions and often house and stays for one month.. for the first, second and third baby.. after
chose not to do so that my mother came to my house. I watched my mother and then I cared
for my baby in the same way. My mother has 4 boys and 4 girls. My sisters
Demographic Data married later than me, many years.. my sisters helped my mothers with my
• Average age of mothers was 35. children, sleep with them
• 82% married. 4.6% divorced. 6% widowed. • I feel that lots of people here go to religion as salvation or sanctuary from
• Approximately 60% had completed or were obtaining an undergraduate degree problems.. but that is not what religion is. Should not be just a place for
and 20% had finished high school. when you are in trouble. You should say every day thank god for giving me
• “Large” families were common: another day. In Islam, there is a prayer before almost every action.. before
you eat, before you go to the toilet. It cannot be something that you can go
– 37.7% of the women had 4 children living with them, 15% had 6 children
into and then leave.. it doesn’t work that way in my world.
living with them.
Initial Readings of Data Conclusions
• The role of fathers: “very passive I guess” • Motherhood and mothering.
– In Qatar, you must know about the man. He thinks about himself • Haraway’s idea of mothering as regeneration not reproduction: removes
• Doing it all and being exhausted motherhood from it’s patriarchal contexts and creates it as a place with
• I didn’t choose to be a mom. The decision is to have a baby is like political agency through collective action
• Stories also resonate with traditions such as that of “the African-American
having a tattoo on your face
tradition of motherhood there is a strong role to be played by
• Frustrations with social policies
“othermothers” for whom biological reproduction is irrelevant in the ability
• Birth control is used ... we have different methods. I didn’t use it myself for a woman to have an impact on the spiritual and moral/ethical upbringing
as my husband doesn’t agree with taking it, he thinks that pills can affect of children and communities” (Handlarksi, 2010).
me in the future.

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