Who am I?
I became a mother while a graduate student. Bombarded by societal expectations and advice on pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood, I quickly combined this life experience with my scholarly interests and wrote a dissertation on Christian women and childbirth. I later began to explore expressions of religion and spirituality outside of traditional religion – a topic that found expression in my book Sacred Pregnancy. I am a professor of American Studies and Religion at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD and have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have!
Ann's book list on exploring the spirituality of pregnancy and birth
Discover why each book is one of Ann's favorite books.
Why did Ann love this book?
Though not directly engaging with religion and spirituality, this book by Adrienne Rich is a foundational text of third-wave feminism.
In this 1976 book, Rich discusses her own conflicted experience of motherhood as a window into the influence of patriarchy and politics on the institution of motherhood.
Seeing motherhood as a societal institution rather than just an identity, Rich uses her poet’s voice to describe how motherhood as an experience is always directly influenced by the societal pressures, norms, and expectations of the moment.
2 authors picked Of Woman Born as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
In Of Woman Born, originally published in 1976, influential poet and feminist Adrienne Rich examines the patriarchic systems and political institutions that define motherhood. Exploring her own experience-as a woman, a poet, a feminist and a mother-she finds the act of mothering to be both determined by and distinct from the institution of motherhood as it is imposed on all women everywhere. A "powerful blend of research, theory, and self-reflection" (Sandra M. Gilbert, Paris Review), Of Woman Born revolutionised how women thought about motherhood and their own liberation. With a stirring new foreword from National Book Critics Circle Award-winning writer…