The Legacy of Mothers: Matriarchies and the Gift Economy as Post Capitalist Alternatives

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This anthology features powerful voices from international contributors who argue that motherhood can serve as the foundation for a new socio-political order and value system that liberates mothers. Rather than presenting a utopia, the work outlines a potential evolution that contrasts with prevalent thinking in the Global North. It proposes alternatives to capitalism, such as the gift and subsistence economies; to trans-humanism, by emphasizing nature and its inhabitants; to individualism, through community; to domination, by advocating for balance and responsibility; to state control, by promoting localism; to monotheism, by embracing spirituality; and to equality feminism, by introducing transformative feminism. Signs of these changes are visible in movements like New Age, urban communes, Occupy, and mothers' movements. The second part critiques the failures of capitalism, the State, patriarchy, and even Western feminism, while presenting alternatives from outside the patriarchal framework, such as the maternal gift economy and matriarchal societies. It challenges the Western tendency to escape motherhood for careers and explores ways to actualize a re-understanding of motherhood, including local community initiatives, healing, and peacemaking in the third part.