Dynamic Selves, Uncertain Desires

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways young women come to see themselves as mothers through a focus on three individuals’ perspectives. In spite of the home’s emphasis on a mother-and-child unit, young women understand themselves and their relationships in variable ways. The chapter extends theoretical discussions of subjectivity as dynamic and partial. Attending to subjectivities of motherhood challenges notions of biological relationship that in part structure how these individuals are positioned by the NGO and the state. Highlighting individuals’ talk and actions, the chapter shows that girls mobilize various discourses of being a good person and doing their best for their child in interactions with each other and with staff and volunteers in this humanitarian organization.