Demythologizing Motherhood: A Comparative Study of the Maternal and Mother-Daughter Relationships in the Works of Contemporary British, North American, and Iranian Women Writers

This thesis explores the representation of motherhood as ideology, identity, and experience in contemporary women’s writings, offering comparative studies of Persian texts alongside English-language narratives from marginalized backgrounds such as African American, Caribbean, Chinese American, and queer mothering. It investigates theoretical approaches to motherhood and identity such as those of Adrienne Rich and Alice Walker, questions the exclusion of women from other literary theories such as that of Michel Foucault, and engages with contemporary critical views on motherhood and the materials published recently in mothering studies.