Calling all parents! You are invited to an afternoon with local author and professor\, Dr. Jennifer Case\, to celebr ate and enjoy her new book on motherhood\, but also have a moment to share your own experiences of raising little humans. We Are Animals is a collec tion of personal essays tackling social stigmas around mothering\, childbi rth\, and feminism in the twenty-first century.
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\nDoors will open at 2:00 pm for light refres hments and a meet-and-greet with the author. Jennifer will begin her readi ngs at 2:30 pm followed by audience stories and questions.
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\nAbout We Are Animals :
\nWhen \;Jennifer Case \;became pregnant une xpectedly with her second child\, she was overwhelmed at the prospect of c aring for another child in a society with high expectations and low suppor t for mothers. She sought to reclaim control over\, if not her changing bo dy\, then at least her rapidly declining mental health. Immersing herself in research\, Case learned that the United States has one of the highest m aternal death rates among developed countries. One in every five women dev elops a mental health issue as a result of pregnancy. It became clear to h er that in order to address the sexism and isolation mothers face&mdash\;i ncluding the racism that further marginalizes women of color&mdash\;we mus t recognize these as social problems that affect us all.
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\nWe Are Animals \;draw s attention to these issues by examining key moments in Case&rsquo\;s life where her experience as both a woman in twenty-first-century America and a child-bearing mammal\, and the conflicts between these two identities\, were brought into sharp relief. From the surprising salve of parasocial in teractions on baby forums to the not so surprisingly intertwined history o f industrial dairy farming and wearable breast pumps\, Case explores an ar ray of realities that give historical and cultural context to the experien ce of motherhood.
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\nThe essays collected here offer a balm for women who have struggled in si lence over childbirth trauma\, conflicted responses to motherhood\, or a d eeply felt intuition that what their bodies needed as mothers did not matc h what society provided. They also offer a much needed\, nuanced perspecti ve for policymakers\, activists\, and medical professionals who continue t o shape women&rsquo\;s experience of motherhood.
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\nAbout the author:< /p>\n
Jennifer Case \;teaches creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas. She also serves as an assistant nonfiction editor at Ter rain.org and is the supervising editor of \;Arkana. She is the author of \;Sawbill\, and her work has appeared in \;Orion\, the \;Sy camore Review\, and \;Fourth River. \;She lives in central Arkansa s.
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