This course will examine motherhood as experience and institution-conceived of in vastly different ways-by a diversity of authors, genres, and literary modes to include the historical novel, the poem, the personal essay, the graphic novel, and the epistolary form. Our intersectional approach to a plurality of mothers and motherhoods will highlight the writings, experiences, and embodiments of people of color and immigrants as well as queer and disabled folks. Engaging with popular/visual media, we will study the figure of the mother (biological or otherwise) as bearer of potent cultural myths and enduring stereotypes that continue to haunt contemporary constructions of maternal care. We will also explore community formations that center mothers as agents of political change. Possible authors include Adrienne Rich, Audre Lourde, Toni Morrison, Buchi Emechita, Tanya Tagaq, Jamaica Kincaid, Maggie Nelson, Rivka Galchen, and Alison Bechdel.