Gathering together powerful voices of feminist writers, peace activists, and matriarchal studies scholars from around the globe, The Legacy of Mothers reconceptualizes mothers, motherhood, and mothering as an alternative human logic to create a new sociopolitical order. The contributors draw on ancient knowledges, Indigenous perspectives, and African traditions like Motherism to argue for the reordering of our world according to a distinctly transformative feminism. The book then explores where this new logic is already taking root, demonstrating that a better world is not just possible but already evolving.

Introduction: Motherhood: Between Chaos, Failures, Magic and Vision - Erella Shadmi

Part I: Motherhood Under Patriarchy

Chapter 1: Austrian Welfare State and the Mother Trap - Mariam Irene Tazi-Preve
Chapter 2: Limbo - Ana Anonyma
Chapter 3: Between Holy Mary and Umna El Ghula: Reflections on an Anxious Motherhood - Honaida Ghanem
Chapter 4: Mother’s House - Shula Keshet
Chapter 5: Mothering Our Way Home from Sparta - Barbara Alice Mann

Part II: Motherhood Outside of Patriarchy

Chapter 6: Theory and Practice of the Gift Economy - Genevieve Vaughan
Chapter 7: Matriarchal Societies and Modern Matriarchal Studies - Heide Goettner-Abendroth
Chapter 8: Local Economies and Subsistence Culture - Veronika Bennholdt-Thompsen
Chapter 9: Motherism: Nature’s Own Way Is the Way of the Woman - Cathrine Acholonu
Chapter 10: Divine Surprise: The Female Side of God - Annine van der Meer

Part III: Motherhood as a Post-Capitalist Alternative

Chapter 11: The Road to an Egalitarian Society: Matriarchal Politics - Heide Goettner-Abendroth
Chapter 12: The Possibility of a Society of Peace in Israel/Palestine - Erella Shadmi
Chapter 13: Matriarchal Medicine: The Maternal Principle In Matriarchal Healing - Cécile Keller
Chapter 14: Nashira: Building a New Matriarchal Society in Colombia - Angela Dolmetsch
Chapter 15: Pagoda, Temple of Love 1977: Practice Ground for Matriarchy - Lin Daniels
Chapter 16: Rematriation: Bringing Our People Home - Susan Deer Cloud