Mothering, Education and Culture

Deborah Golden is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel and is a social anthropologist, specializing in the anthropology of education. Her interests encompass the anthropology of childhood, early childhood education, socialization of immigrants, material culture in education, and cultural perspectives on the passing of time.  Lauren Erdreich is Lecturer at the Levinsky College of Education, Israel and Research Tutor for teacher educators at the MOFET Institute, Israel. She is an anthropologist of education and her research and teaching interests include anthropology of literacy, anthropology of educational organizations, gender and education, spirituality in teacher education, Arab education in Israel, and parental involvement. Sveta Roberman is Lecturer at the Gordon College of Education, Israel and a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Herresearch interests and fields of expertise include anthropology of education, migration and questions of belonging/s, social inclusion and exclusion.   

Chapter 1. Setting the Scene: Theory, Context, Method.- Chapter 2. En Route.- Chapter 3. The ‘Well-Invested’ Child.- Chapter 4. Homing In.- Chapter 5. A Comparative Look.- Chapter 6. Conclusion: Envisioning Possibilities.

“Mothering, Education and Culture depicts the importance and centrality of ‘intensive mothering’ as part of the Israeli gendered model of the (good-enough) mother, a model in which mothers dedicate tremendous time, energy, and money into raising their children. The book focuses on middle-class mothers from three Israeli socio-cultural groups … .” (Pnina Peri, Israel Studies Review, Vol. 35 (1), 2020)