Care and Mothering as the core paradigm in matriarchal societies: Insights into the value system and ethical principles of the matriarchal Minangkabau

Care and Mothering as core paradigm in egalitarian societies - Insights into the value system and ethical principles of modern matriarchal societies The global pandemic of COVID-19 has evidenced the profound crisis of care our patriarchal societies experience, producing various forms of isolation, loss, health crisis, poverty, etc. Further, the pandemic has highlighted the need for concrete solutions and the longing for alternatives. Reading the consequences of the pandemic through the lens of the pre-existing crisis of care, the need for specific attention to mothers and their care work becomes evident. Drawing on the contributions of Tronto (2017, 2013), we can understand how care had been distorted in a neoliberal sense. Further, her reflections on the concept of homines curans open for an ontological shift toward an understanding that all humans are fragile, interdependent, and in continuous need to give and receive care. Connecting Tronto's work with the theory and practice of matricentric feminism, coined by O’Reilly (2016), the dynamics of the ‘maternal wall’ that pushes mothers at the edge of our society gain particular visibility. This specific focus highlights the intersections between the elements of care, motherhood, mothering, reproduction, power, and agency. Based on a critical reflection of the actual challenges our uprooted and displaced understanding of care and mothering produces, the contribution will focus on different forms of social organization. Starting with the assumption that withe on a withe background is invisible, the different understanding of care in contemporary matriarchal societies will be explored. Assuming this perspective outside the western-patriarchal box provides insights into a different social order characterized by gender egalitarianism and an overall peaceful and caring approach towards life in the broadest sense. Unfortunately, the erroneous opinion that matriarchy is inverted patriarchy where women dominate still persists. At the same time, several researchers show that matriarchies are egalitarian societies based on maternal values (Sanday, 2002, Elfira, 2015, Göttner-Abendroth, 2009). Looking at the realities of the Minangkabau, the Mosuo, the Isthmus-Zapotecs, to name but a few, a different value system will be introduced, that has a completely different approach towards care and mothering. The guiding questions of the contribution are: "What does it mean for mothers, mothering and reproductive justice when care is the central paradigm of a society?", “What repercussions this different understanding of care has on all members of a society?”, and “How can we draw inspiration from modern matriarchies to locate care and mothering differently in our societies? The aim is to understand the symbolic order of matriarchal societies as inspiration, that might support us to think of alternatives. In this respect, the contribution is also intended as an outlook or rethinking society and, in particular, reshaping mothering and care.