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17 Feminist Criminology 3 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/femcrim17 and id is 1 raw text is: Article Feminist Criminology Techniques of Identity Talk 2022, Vor( 3 Article reuse guidelines: in Reentering M.1ot hers' Self-Arilres in R ent rin Mo her' S lf- sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1 177/1557085120983444 Narratives: (M)othering and journals-sagepub.com/home/fcx Redemption Narratives OSAGE Stacy De Coster' and Karen Heimer2 Abstract We examine how incarcerated women introduced themselves to a reentry program focused on reuniting them with their children. To communicate maternal worthiness, the women did not discuss their own past mothering but focused instead on their mothers' mothering and on their future mothering. Our analysis uncovers two forms of identity talk women used to distance themselves from societal presumptions about their bad mothering: discussing shortcomings of their mothers in a process we call defensive (m)othering, and focusing on futures as good mothers through redemptive storytelling. These strategies reveal how women attempt to manage identities within structural, cultural, and situational constraints. Keywords incarcerated mothers, women's reentry, motherhood and offending, female inmates Introduction Nearly two-thirds of incarcerated women in the United States are mothers of minor children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2010). Some research suggests that motherhood offers incarcerated women a conventional identity script that serves both as a motivator for desistance and as a resource in attempts to garner institutional assistance in reentering communities (Adams et al., 2017; Richie, 2001; Sharpe, 2015). The disadvantaged cir- cumstances women endured prior to incarceration, however, often relegate incarcerated mothers to the category of bad or undeserving mothers (Collins, 2000; Connolly, 2001). 'North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA 2University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA Corresponding Author: Stacy De Coster, North Carolina State University, Box 8107, Raleigh, NC 27695-8107, USA. Email: smcoster@ncsu.edu