CONNECTED: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ATTACHMENT PARENTING by KATHERINE ELIZABETH SOULE (Under the Direction of DIANE M. SAMDAHL) ABSTRACT In the contemporary, mainstream United States, normative discourses construct motherhood as a full-time parenting role in which women lose autonomous identity in exchange for the responsibility of raising children. This view carries over into leisure scholarship where mothers are viewed as constrained by children, and family leisure is described as inferior to independent leisure pursuits. However, many women find great joy in their parenting roles. To explore this apparent contradiction, this study focused on mothers who practice attachment parenting, a parenting style in which mothers remain in close physical contact with their children and take little to no time for themselves. The guiding research question was to investigate the interconnected meanings that come into being as mothers practice attachment parenting. Using post-intentional phenomenology, four mothers were interviewed about their attachment parenting experiences. The metaphor of gestation was used to discuss the tentative manifestations of the phenomenon that were revealed through this research. This discussion highlights the ways attachment parenting both resists and reinforces the normative discourse of motherhood, revealing ways these mothers navigated the contextualized power matrices present in their lives. The participants’ stories also made it clear that these women found extreme joy in interacting with their children; contrary to much published research, children were not a constraint to these mothers’ leisure. This research highlights the need to expand scholarship on mothers’ leisure—and indeed all leisure—to explore relational experiences as well as autonomous free-time activities. INDEX WORDS: mothers’ leisure, relational leisure, attachment parenting, motherhood, discourse, post-intentional phenomenology, feminist research, matrices of power CONNECTED: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ATTACHMENT PARENTING by KATHERINE ELIZABETH SOULE B.A., California Polytechnic State University, 2003 M.S., California Polytechnic State University, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2013 © 2013 Katherine Elizabeth Soule All Rights Reserved CONNECTED: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ATTACHMENT PARENTING by KATHERINE ELIZABETH SOULE Major Professor: Diane M. Samdahl Committee: Corey W. Johnson Jori Hall Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2013 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this work to Annabella Brooke Soule, my inspiration for this research. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I don’t think one parent can raise a child. I don’t think two parents can raise a child. You really need the whole village. ~ Toni Morrison This journey would not have begun—nor been completed—without my husband, Travis Soule, whose confidence in me succeeds my own. For him, I am blessed. To my committee ~ Dr. Diane M. Samdahl (Chair)—for pushing me ever closer to the unattainable; for relishing the company of my husband and daughter; for days yet to come. Dr. Corey W. Johnson—for encouraging me to celebrate my biases; for Easter egg hunts; for convincing me that Athens was my home to be. Dr. Jori Hall—for leading me down the rabbit hole into the world of qualitative research. To my phenomenological lifelines ~ Dr. Joseph Pate—for guiding my journey into post-intentional phenomenology. Brian Kumm—for unearthing the metaphor. James Bryan—for an education in philosophy. Dr. Melissa Freeman—for dissecting the meaning of manifolds & other phenomenological concepts. To my family ~ Shirley & Bill Peterson—for Monica Ros thru the University of Georgia. Madeline Thompson—for all the miles and everything in between. Jody & Steve Soule—for Baby Bella Boot Camp; for one bathroom and too many adults. Chris and Hannah—for endless phone calls; for editing; for childcare; for friendship. To Frank and Betsey Kelton—for the generous gift of a space to write. Finally, I am grateful for all the other villagers who raised me into & through this work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 Central Tenets in Leisure Studies ............................................................... 3 Mothers’ Leisure ......................................................................................... 5 Expanding Conceptualizations of Mothers’ Leisure ................................... 7 Attachment Parenting ................................................................................ 11 Study Background ..................................................................................... 13 2 THEORETICAL FRAMING .......................................................................... 16 Feminist Framework ................................................................................. 16 Foucauldian Discourse .............................................................................. 23 Research Significance and the Guiding Research Question ..................... 32 3 METHODOLOGICAL FRAMING ................................................................ 34 Phenomenology ......................................................................................... 34 Post-Intentional Phenomenology .............................................................. 40 Researching Mothers’ Lived Experiences ................................................ 43 Summary ................................................................................................... 50 4 METHODS ..................................................................................................... 52 vii A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Research Approach ...................... 52 Participant Selection ................................................................................. 53 Data Collection ......................................................................................... 56 Ensuring Data Quality ............................................................................... 62 Data Analysis and Interpretation .............................................................. 69 5 TENTATIVE MANIFESTATIONS ............................................................... 80 Our Bodily Situation ................................................................................. 80 Gestation as Metaphor .............................................................................. 82 Embryonic Cleavage ................................................................................. 85 Amniotical Geste .................................................................................... 105 Umbilical Connections ............................................................................ 113 Places of Contraction .............................................................................. 119 Summary of Tentative Manifestations .................................................... 128 6 CONSIDERATIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING MOTHERS’ LEISURE . 133 Theoretical Considerations ..................................................................... 133 Methodological Considerations .............................................................. 141 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 148 7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 149 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 157 APPENDICES A RECRUITMENT TEXT ..................................................................................... 167 B TELEPHONE ELIGIBILITY CONSENT SCRIPT ........................................... 168 C INTERVIEW CONSENT SCRIPT .................................................................... 170 viii D INITIAL INTERVIEW GUIDE ......................................................................... 171 E SAMPLE SECOND INTERVIEW GUIDE ....................................................... 173 F INITIAL BRIDLING STATEMENTS ............................................................... 175 G SAMPLE BRIDLING ENTRY ......................................................................... 178 H DATA ANALYSIS DOCUMENT, INTERVIEW FOUR ................................. 180 I EARLY CONCEPT SKETCHES ....................................................................... 181 J INDIVIDUALIZED DIAGRAMS, BY PARTICIPANT ................................... 182 ix LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Early Diagram A ............................................................................................... 72 Figure 2: Early Diagram B ................................................................................................ 73 Figure 3: Early Diagram C ................................................................................................ 76 Figure 4: Final Diagram, Embryonic Cleavage in Attachment Parenting ........................ 78 Figure 5: The Metaphor Of Gestation ..............................................................................