Gathering together powerful voices of feminist writers, peace activists, and matriarchal studies scholars from around the globe, The Legacy of Mothers reconceptualizes mothers, motherhood, and mothering as an alternative human logic to create a new sociopolitical order. The contributors draw on ancient knowledges, Indigenous perspectives, and African traditions like Motherism to argue for the reordering of our world according to a distinctly transformative feminism. The book then explores where this new logic is already taking root,demonstrating that a better world is not just possible but already evolving./p>

Erella Shadmi is a feminist, peace and anti-racism activist and scholar living in Israel. She co-founded Kol Ha’Isha (Jerusalem feminist centre), the Fifth Mother (a women's peace movement), and the Ashkenazi women’s group established to contemplate on Ashkenazi racism. She has been active, among other things, in Women in Black, and the Mizrahi feminist movement, Achoti. She was a board member of B’tselem and a member of the Truth Commission for the Nakba in the Negev 1948-1960, established by Zochrot organization. She is now active in the Haifa Feminist Center, Isha Le'Isha, and currently leads the initiatives to establish the Center for Women's Cultures and co-housing for elderly women. She is also active in two global networks, dealing with gift economy, matriarchal societies and Indigenous rights and knowledge. Erella is the former head of the Women’s Studies Program at Beit Berl Academic College, a unique program that is open to less-educated women and focuses on marginalized groups in Israel. Her numerous published books and articles deal with social change movements, male violence against women, Ashkenaziness, lesbianism, spirituality, the maternal gift economy and matriarchal societies. As a criminologist and one of the pioneering researchers of the Israel Police, she published several critical articles and the first of its kind a book on police and policing in Israel.

Erella Shadmi's profile page

"Here is a heartfelt book that helps us reimagine human futures.... The liberation of mothering can lead us back to the earth-centric, sustainable lifestyle of our ancestors. Every reader will be inspired to flex their nurturing muscles and transform the world!"
-Darcia Narvaez, Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, author of Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, and host of EvolvedNest.org

"This rich anthology edited by Erella Shadmi is an eloquent message for our time, with essays written in diverse voices from thinkers and activists around the world declaring that 'motherhood is the best way to lead us out of patriarchy.' Essentialist? No, absolutely essential!"
-Vicki Noble, feminist writer, healer, and teacher, co-creator of Motherpeace Tarot, and author of Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess, Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World, and The Double Goddess: Women Sharing Power