Sounding Motherhood: Celebrity Voices and Podcasting in Italy 

Giusy Di Filippo, PhD
Chercheuse associée – UMR Dicen IDF, Université Paris Nanterre    

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Abstract

This article examines the role of podcasting in reconfiguring the discursive and cultural meanings of motherhood in contemporary Italy amid demographic decline, state pronatalism, and conservative gender politics. Drawing on Adrienne Rich’s distinction between motherhood as institution and mothering as lived practice, Andrea O’Reilly’s matricentric feminism, Adriana Cavarero’s philosophy of vocal relationality, and Sara Ahmed’s theory of affective orientation, it introduces the concept of “sounding motherhood” to explain how podcasts make audible maternal experiences marginalized by dominant discourse. Through an analysis of the celebrity-hosted podcasts Mama non Mama (2021) and Morgana, La madre (2023–2024), the article identifies reactive and reconstructive vocal strategies that challenge normative constructions of motherhood. It argues that while podcasting expands the possibilities for maternal self-representation, the visibility and legitimacy of maternal voices remain conditioned by celebrity, platform infrastructures, and cultural power.

Keywords: Podcasting, motherhood, mothering, sounding motherhood, matricentric feminism, vocal relationality, celebrity culture, Italy, Giorgia Meloni, maternal subjectivity.