Skip to content
Clark University
  • Media Relations
Suggest a Story
ClarkNow logo
  • Topics
  • All Stories
  • In the News
  • Expert Sources
  • Podcasts
      • Info For

        • Media Relations
Suggest a Story

Challenge. Change. Podcast

Making sense of the unfathomable

English professor analyzes rhetoric about infanticide from 1616 to present
February 22, 2023
By Melissa Hanson

When English Professor Dianne Berg, M.A. ’10, read about a Duxbury, Massachusetts, mother accused of killing her three children, she thought immediately of two cases from her research. Berg studies representations of domestic violence and the literary appropriation of real stories about death, murder, and infanticide.

She’s analyzed the discourse and press coverage of Margaret Vincent, a mother of three who killed two of her children in 1616 because she believed that if the family didn’t convert to Catholicism, they would all be damned, and of Andrea Yates, a Houston woman suffering from postpartum mental illness who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001 because she believed it would save them from hell.

Berg examines the way these women are described in the media. There’s something different about the story of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother, compared to Vincent and Yates, she says. Berg is noticing increased compassion and discussion surrounding postpartum depression and psychosis.

“The push to raise consciousness about postpartum depression and psychosis at a sort of grassroots level is impressive,” Berg says. “More noise has to be made and more pressure has to be put on our lawmakers to address the woeful inadequacy of our healthcare system [on these issues].”

Berg recommends the book “Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers” by Sady Doyle to anyone who wants to read more about this topic.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Health & Well-beingClark Community

Related Stories

More from this topic
Charles Slatkin '74 sits in the Goddard home
Inspiring the Mars generation
A stack of books about slavery
Classrooms in crisis
More from this topic
  • Apply Undergrad
  • Apply Grad
  • Give
  • Contact Us
Helpful Links
  • Report a Concern
  • Offices
  • Campus Safety
  • Employment
  • Healthy Clark Dashboard
  • Website Feedback
Follow Us
  • See more of us on Facebook
  • See more of us on Twitter
  • See more of us on Instagram
  • See more of us on TikTok
  • See more of us on YouTube
  • See more of us on LinkedIn
Clark University footer logo Return to Clark University Homepage
Challenge Convention.
Change Our World.
508-793-7711
950 Main Street Worcester, MA 01610
Copyright © 2023 Clark University Public Information | Privacy Policy | Website Accessibility | Nondiscrimination Policy