Subtitle:  An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries

Broadly speaking, we cannot choose our society any more than we can choose our parents, or our children for that matter. But we can seek to improve it. One place to start is with the understanding that mothers are full humans with needs and desires and differences among them, who through the pandemic and war, sleep deprivation and pelvic pain, do the hard work of raising the next generation, Their labor -- and the hard work of fathers and other caregivers -- is worthy of policy that acknowledges that reality, and of respect. 

-- Abigail Leonard, Introduction, p.9, Four Mothers

"Tsukasa in Japan grapples with memories of a difficult childhood as she tries to chart a new, healthier path for her own daughter while balancing onerous cultural expectations. Chelsea in Kenya endures a devastating loss just before she gives birth and finds that without the traditional support of previous generations, motherhood can be grueling – but it can also provide emotional healing. Anna in Finland navigates a complicated relationship with her child’s father, but the country’s robust family policies allow her to still pursue the kind of parenthood that she envisioned. Sarah in the US leaves the religious community that raised her in order to create a less traditional family of her own only to find she’s largely confronting motherhood alone.
 
Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Leonard interweaves these stories with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean for parents on the ground—and considers what modern families really want."

-- Publisher's description.

Abigail Leonard is an award-winning international reporter and news producer, previously based in Tokyo, where she was a frequent contributor to NPR, Time, and New York Times video. Her stories have also appeared in The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Vox. Before moving to Japan, she wrote and produced long-form news documentaries as a staff producer for PBS, ABC and Al Jazeera America. Stories she reported have earned a National Headliner Award, an Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and a James Beard Foundation Media Award Nomination. She was a 2011 East-West Center Japan Fellow and 2010 UN Foundation Journalism Fellow. She served as First Vice President of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, a 2000-member national press organization, and also chaired its scholarship program. 
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Before she became a journalist, she was a middle school teacher for the New Orleans Public School District through Teach for America. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's in Science, Health and Environmental Journalism from NYU. She now lives in Washington DC, where she enjoys riding her electric bicycle with her husband and three awesome kids.  

Moderating discussion is Dr. Aurelie Athan, a clinical psychologist and Research Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Athan's research interests embrace Maternal Psychology: Matrescence & Maternal Mental Health, Perinatal Risk & Resilience, and  Reproductive Psychology: Reproductive Identity Formation and  Reproductive Life Planning & Decision-Making. The author of numerous articles, her Ph'D is entitled, Postpartum Flourishing: Motherhood as Opportunity for Positive Growth and Self-Development (Columbia University, 2011). Dr. Athan is the founder of KHORA, the Maternal and Reproductive Psychology Lab at Teachers College.

This book talk is co-sponsored by KHORA and Gottesman Libraries. It is the first in a series of three book talks this Fall on matrescence, the "developmental passage where a woman transitions through pre-conception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, to the postnatal period and beyond." (Aurelie Athan, Ph.D., 2016)

Where: 306 Russell / Online

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