A Netnographic Analysis on the Transformation of Motherhood: Blogger Mothers


Gurcayir Teke S.

MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.103, ss.32-47, 2014 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2014
  • Dergi Adı: MILLI FOLKLOR
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.32-47
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Internet, motherhood, blogger mothers, transformation of motherhood
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Internet is a significant source which provides rich data to folklore besides many disciplines. Accessibility of internet from everywhere and every time results in the need of the users to express themselves in this virtual world. Women especially who are new mothers get the chance to exist in and be a part of this virtual world by means of keeping mother blogs. Writings and comments which are shared in mother blogs give certain clues to analyze the transformation of motherhood. This paper aims to reveal how contemporary mothers describe themselves and unveil their perceptions on the expectations of society as a mother by means of mother blogs. In the scope of this study, past and present mother identity formations are compared; different aspects and reasons of the variations of identity formations are investigated through mother blogs. The mother blogs which blog owners permit sharing the blog content are used in this paper. Permitted blogs are analyzed by means of the netnographic method. It is observed that blogger mothers whose blogs are considered for this study are literate and have careers. Blogger mothers keep online diaries for their babies, take the opportunity to get in touch with other mothers, and benefit from their mutual experiences on child rearing. Sharing experiences through blogs help mothers to handle overwhelming difficulties of looking after their babies. Blogger mothers think that "being a good mother" requires professionalizing on baby care and education. This mentality provokes mothers to take more responsibilities and causes them to feel "inexpert" on child rearing.