"But what then is 'the maternal'? "
"Is it a physical thing? "
"Is it the ability of some bodies to carry life and give birth? "
"Is it a concept connecting various notions to each other? "
"Is it a metaphor for something else? "
"For me the maternal includes all of these, but perhaps most of all it functions as a system of seeing, thinking and relating to the world. A system which completely breaks away from the binaries of the feminine / masculine oppositions through the maternal body's pivotal role to natality and otherness."
-Deirdre M. Donoghue and Paula Mc Closkey in conversation, June 2013.