Using a variety of critical and theoretical approaches, the contributing scholars to this collection analyze culturally specific and globally held attitudes about mothers and mothering, as represented in world cinema. Examining films from a range of countries including Afghanistan, India, Iran, Eastern Europe, Canada, and the United States, the various chapters contextualize the socio-cultural realities of motherhood as they are represented on screen, and explore the maternal figure as she has been glamorized and celebrated, while simultaneously subjected to public scrutiny. Collectively, this scholarly investigation provides insights into where women’s struggles converge, while also highlighting the dramatically different realities of women around the globe.

Asma Sayed, PhD, researches Canadian literature in the context of global multiculturalism. Her current research focuses on Islamophobia and the image of Muslim women in popular culture, particularly in Indian cinema. She teaches women’s and gender studies, cultural studies, communication studies and comparative literature at a number of western Canadian universities. Her recent edited works include M. G. Vassanji: Essays on His Works (2014), Writing Diaspora: Transnational Memories, Identities and Cultures (2014), and World on a Maple Leaf: a Treasury of Cana- dian Multicultural Folktales (2011).

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