Dr. Pascale Engelmajer, assistant professor of religious studies, recently published two book chapters; ‘Motherhood in the Ancient Indian Buddhist World: A soteriological Path’ in the book Motherhood in Antiquity and ‘Mothering the Buddha: Mahamaya’s Spiritual Career’ in the book Motherhood and Polytheisms.
The two chapters focus on how motherhood and mothering is conceptualized in the Buddhist texts. Specifically, Dr. Engelmajer examines how narratives focused on Buddha’s mother and stepmother can be interpreted in a novel way as embodiment of the Buddhist path. She does so by integrating recent theoretical work on motherhood that seeks to reclaim them from a feminist perspective.
Dr. Engelmajer, now entering her sixth year at Carroll, is very excited about the two publications because they both appear in edited volumes that shine a light on motherhood and mothering. She also hopes her readers “see that traditional accounts, especially those about women, can be re-read in ways that give women religious agency, and allow them to redefine traditional roles from a feminist standpoint.”
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