“It was hard work, and it is still hard work”: towards a fluid typology of Black (imprisoned) motherwork

Although there has been a growing body of matricentric penological scholarship in Britain, there remains a lack of theoretical consideration of the intersections between processes of racialization and motherhood in such contexts. This article addresses this oversight by utilizing the Black feminist concept of motherwork to situate the Black mothering practices that come to be mobilized in response to maternal imprisonment in England. Informed by an analysis of in-depth interviews with Black mothers, a fluid typology of Black (imprisoned) motherwork is subsequently presented. This reflects the multiple, overlapping, albeit distinctive strategies of care employed by the mothers before, during and after confinement, that being: “preparatory”, “connective”, “protective”, “(re)building” and “activist” motherwork. Together, these types of motherwork provide a new conceptual framework for recognizing Black mothering as a purposive tool for survival and resistance, whilst problematizing the racialised-reproductive oppressions found to both necessitate and constrain such work in carceral Britain.