Unsettling maternal futures in climate crisis: towards cohabitability?

Abstract

In this article, we explore the emotionally reflexive processes by which some women build maternal futures in the unsettling context of climate change, aiming to contribute to a better understanding of reproductive (and other) future building as aided by emotions. We analyse the online testimonies of an organisation that raises awareness about the interrelationship between climate change and reproductive decision making. The findings illustrate how women’s consideration of possible futures is relational, guided by their feelings and what they know or imagine to be the feelings of their families, the wider society and future generations. This is important for interrogating how climate change might unsettle dominant maternal and familial practices but extend understandings of connection. We position cohabitability as a possible foundation for reproductive decision making but find this possibility unfulfilled. Rather, maternal future building more commonly reinforces individualised and gendered responsibility for the planet’s future.