This on-line round-table will address the difficult relationship between motherhood and feminism in archaeological practice. It aims to gather voices on motherhood as an identity concept and as lived academic practice.
The workshop will consist of two parts:

1. Current research on motherhood in archaeology
This section will showcase current projects, books and articles on motherhood in the past in no more than five minutes per speaker. All aspects of motherhood, mother-child relationships and mothering in the past are invited. The discussion will focus on current research themes and new methodological approaches to address motherhood in the past.

2. Feminist struggles with motherhood
Not all women in archaeology are mothers – do mothers need a feminism of their own? How can we avoid a mothers vs. non-mothers split in feminism, if life-ways and problems might be quite different? How do gender equality measures ensure fair treatment of mothers/persons with/without caring responsibilities? This part of the round-table will discuss combining motherhood and careers in archaeology, from the marginalization of new mothers in research to support measures and recommendations for mothers in academia.

This workshop is connected to the project »The value of mothers to society: responses to motherhood and child rearing practices in prehistoric Europe«, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 676828).