Becoming maternal : a genealogy of teachers as mothers in Malta

Abstract

The aim of this genealogical study of the teacher as mother in Malta is to narrate a story of the formation of this association and the powerknowledge relations sustaining it. It deals with the issue of how the maternal aspect of teaching as well as the teaching connotations of mothering are utilised in various ways but at the same time rendered invisible in dominant discourses. The teacher as mother is a popular idea and it is generally taken for granted in Malta. However one rarely inquires into how and why the association between the teacher and the mother was created, what were the different and prevalent discourses that contributed to its formation, and how this affects the lives of women teachers even today.