Dr. Rachel Davidson, Associate Professor of Communication at Hanover College, will discuss some of her research projects which identify a problematic “good/bad” mother dichotomy commonplace in popular culture on June 6th at 7:00 p.m. EST via Zoom. In her discussion of two contemporary texts, BoJack Horseman (2014-2020) and 20th Century Women (2016), she asks us to reimagine mothering beyond “good” or “bad” demonstrating why analyzing popular culture matters in general, as well as why binary thinking about motherhood, is problematic in particular.

Rachel D. Davidson (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) is an Associate Professor at Hanover College, in the Department of Communication. Her research broadly addresses rhetoric and public culture with interests in gender, motherhood, and female empowerment. Rachel’s research has appeared in Communication Quarterly, Women and Language, Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, and Disability Studies Quarterly. She has a co-authored book in The Cultural History of Television Series on Gilmore Girls, and she has also contributed chapters to academic books on motherhood and popular culture.

The Nichols Community Inquiry Series was made possible by the generous support of Mark Nichols '74 and Cheri Griffith Nichols '74. The purpose of the Nichols Community Inquiry Series is to promote lifelong learning opportunities for alumni and friends by creating events for the Hanover College Community to interact with faculty

Questions? Contact Nicole McKown, Director of Constituency Engagement and Annual Giving, at mckown@hanover.edu or 812-866-7013. The Zoom link will be in the event registration confirmation email.