Sites of Discursive Struggle and Double-Voicing: An Analysis of Motherhood Discourses

Conflict between discourses competing for hegemony does not occur solely between different groups and actors but can also arise within the consciousness of the single individual. Motherhood currently represents one of the most polarised loci of debate: it is a site of discursive struggle in which the maternal self is constructed, negotiated and even contested, both at the societal level and, perhaps more interestingly, at the personal level, i.e. within the speech of mothers themselves. Double-voicing has been identified as the ways in which the clash of opposite discourses can be encoded within a single utterance. Drawing on this notion, this study analyses double-voicing in contemporary representations of motherhood as presented in English-speaking podcasts by parenthood experts who are also mothers. Results indicate a significant presence of double-voicing in relation to the stark antagonism between child- and self-centred discourses. The former are so prevalent in our societies that even podcast hosts and guests intent on promoting a more women-empowering image of maternity sometimes inadvertently include them in their utterances, thus revealing unresolved discursive struggles.