Mama

Antonella Gambotto-Burke

Sujets

• Pregnancy

Informations

• Publié par: Pinter & Martin Limited
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 0001
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781780662084
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for Mama: Love, Motherhood and Revolution
A SEMINAL PIECE THAT DRAWS A LINE IN THE SAND ON WHAT MOTHERHOOD SHOULD BE ALL ABOUT. It is a statement that has the potential to realign motherhood, and is so intelligently written. [It is] to motherhood what Germaine Greer was to womanhood.
- Dr. John Irvine, founder of the Read Clinic, best-selling author and child psychologist
Motherhood is not only the root for the survival of our species, but also lies at the core of all human functions - biological, social, cultural, spiritual, economic, educational, artistic and every other aspect of human existence. In the context of our post-modern society, Mama: Love, Motherhood and Revolution is UNDENIABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF THE 21 st CENTURY. It explores, with exquisite beauty, a magical and mysterious world of motherly being, fascinating and filial aspects of femininity, the developmental impact of being Daddy - for him and his child. The dysfunctions of our world emanate from the disastrous consequences of devaluing mothers and motherhood, sacrificed for sexual satisfaction, material benefits, and corporate profits in a male-dominated world. And thus, ritual replaces faith, tweets/text messages displace conversation, skimming or surfing the web substitutes for a depth of understanding, and a ceaseless chatter supplants the comfort of a loving silence. Humanity decides, often in retrospect, that civilization or progress were not all that they were made out to be, perhaps a return to our innate nature and natural ways may serve society better. Now is one such moment in time. Mama sounds the clarion call to return motherhood to its former glory, preserved for millennia but recently wrecked by the senseless onslaught of materialism, modernism and media.
I could not have predicted the profound impact of Mama . While making rounds in the Paediatric ICU after reading it, I insisted that the entire team go into the patient s room, so that the mother did not have to leave her child s bedside. Later in the morning, I became irritated when a senior ICU nurse interposed herself between a mother and her baby - obstructing the mother s attempts to calm her baby down during the removal of a breathing tube. Clinicians like me have consistently disarticulated the mother-infant dyad, dismembered the family dynamic that is crucial to healing and health, and imposed inviolate rules and policies to justify this insanity. No more of this, at least in my practice, will be tolerated.
- K. J. S. Anand, MBBS, D.Phil., FAAP, FCCM, FRCPCH, Nils Ros n von Ros nstein Laureate 2009, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Anatomy and Neurobiology
ANTONELLA RAISES TWO REALLY IMPORTANT IDEAS. Firstly that we need to become an attachment society, so that the role of mothers especially becomes an easier one. And that we need to depolarize the thinking about attachment parenting, so that everyone can find themselves free to move on that continuum.
- Steve Biddulph, Professor of Psychology and #1 bestselling author of Raising Boys
Love is the essence of life, the essence of flourishing and connecting, the essence of human growth and flowering. MAMA IS A LYRICAL ODE TO THE NEED TO LOVE AND A GUIDEBOOK ON HOW TO EMBRACE LOVE. This deeply inspiring and informing book about the empathic connection between mother and child reminds us of how much we need to nurture both mothers and children in their crucial roles of advancing humankind.
- Peter R. Breggin MD, psychiatrist and Director, Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, and bestselling author of Toxic Psychiatry and Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
Part memoir, part social deconstruction, Mama at once embraces and wrestles with the phenomenon of modern motherhood, every second chapter or so seeing Gambotto-Burke rumbling with one of ten renegade experts who form a disturbing chorus. To suggest a patriarchal plot is not to be a fringe conspiracy theorist. In his 2012 book Sex and Punishment , Eric Berkowitz argued convincingly that ancient lawmakers, spooked by what they saw as the possibility of blokes becoming biologically redundant, had created a society that would condemn motherhood to little more than a masculine factory in which women laboured. This society exists today, motherhood still regarded as a temporary vocation for which one must seek leave , presumably from something more important than the raising of emotionally nourished human beings. Together, the voices in Mama push this same barrow, and it makes for an arresting argument. The author herself brings the mystery of motherhood up close and personal. Having lost a brother to suicide and her mother to a corrosive relationship , Gambotto-Burke watched her own daughter marvel at her first dawn and found it the most exquisite moment of my life ... this is the experience of motherhood: PERSONAL, MAGICAL, SUBLIMELY POWERFUL, and medical jargon can take a hike. Gambotto-Burke s point is that the shared experiences of mothers are of a value no PhD can match.
- Jack Marx, The Weekend Australian
What would a celebrated writer known for tackling themes as dark and intriguing as suicide, addiction, sexuality and celebrity culture make of something as supposedly tame and ordinary as motherhood? Antonella Gambotto-Burke s latest book, Mama: Love, Motherhood and Revolution , is part advice for new parents, part a call to arms for change and part memoir. In essence, though, it s about intimacy. A BOOK LIKE NO OTHER, it prepares the reader for an entirely new encounter with intimacy, that with their baby. It recognises not just our vulnerability around intimacy but also the ways in which intimacy calls upon our unresolved pasts. Mama is a celebration of attachment and our drive to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of closeness with our child, and shows why parental intimacy is neither tame nor ordinary.
- Andie Fox, Daily Life
AMAZING, AMAZING ... Buy this wonderful book!
- James Mathison, Channel 10
ALSO BY ANTONELLA GAMBOTTO-BURKE
Mouth
The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide
The Pure Weight of the Heart
An Instinct for the Kill
Lunch of Blood



Subscribe to Antonella Gambotto-Burke s blog at antonellagambottoburke.com
ANTONELLA GAMBOTTO-BURKE
Mama: Love, Motherhood and Revolution
First published in 2014 in Australia as Mama: Dispatches from the Frontline of Love by Arbon Publishing Pty Ltd.
This revised edition published by Pinter Martin Ltd 2015
2014, 2015 Antonella Gambotto-Burke
Antonella Gambotto-Burke has asserted her moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved
Credit: Catherine Barnett, Chorus from The Game of Boxes. Copyright 2012 by Catherine Barnett. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc. on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org .
ISBN 978-1-78066-205-3
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade and otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher s prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Set in Minion
Printed and bound in the UK Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
This book has been printed on paper that is sourced and harvested from sustainable forests and is FSC accredited.
Pinter Martin Ltd 6 Effra Parade London SW2 1PS
pinterandmartin.com
For Bethesda, forever suspended in the space between my heartbeats: this book was named for your first word.
So who mothers the mothers who tend the hallways of mothers, the spill of mothers, the smell of mothers, who mend the eyes of mothers, the lies of mothers scared to turn on lights in basements filled with mothers called by mothers in the dark, the kin of mothers, the gin of mothers, mothers out on bail, who mothers the hail-mary mothers asleep in their stockings while the crows sing heigh ho carrion crow, fol de riddle, lol de riddle, carry on, carry on -
Chorus by Catherine Barnett
ANTONELLA GAMBOTTO-BURKE S GUIDE TO MOTHERHOOD
1. Cherish your child. You could drop dead tomorrow. Chase them around the house and kiss them. Cuddle them. Write them cards. Draw them pictures. Tell them they make you happy.
2. Unplug the antenna. Use your television set only for DVDs and when your baby/toddler is asleep. Never, ever listen to the radio or loud music when your baby/toddler is around. Watch less TV, curb Facebook and stop tweeting. Why? Because nobody really cares.
3. Take your child for walks. Without your mobile. Without your iPod. And talk to them. Tell them about flowers and bugs and trees and clouds and sky and sea and your childhood. Be present. Connect.
4. Always always always hold your child s hand, even if it means wearing Birkenstocks. I wore Birkenstocks for six years. And maxiskirts. Walk slowly. Forget the rest of the world.
5. Be as fat as you need to be when your child is young. Do not listen to anyone who makes you feel bad about your weight. You can lose it when they re at school; I did. Eat cake.
6. Dance with your partner. In the kitchen. In the hallway. Especially in front of your child. The very best kind of dancing is when there s no music playing. Cut loose. Be free.
7. Avoid stressful people. This includes family and old friends. You have my permission. And if tempted to feel guilt, remember the impact of maternal stress on children: very, very bad.
8. Lie with your child in the dark after reading them a story. Talk about their day. Really listen. Don t stop reading and listening and talking in the dark just because they can read. Then push the blinds aside and look out at the stars together in the dark. And as you do, think of all the