Works-in-progress: an analysis of Canadian mommyblogs

In this thesis, I explore why mommyblogs are controversial, who the mommybloggers are and what they are doing, what effect commercialization has on mommyblogs, and whether mommyblogs are dialogic spaces. According to Bakhtin, dialogic narratives are those which allow for heteroglossia, or a diversity of voices. I argue that the interlinked story of a blog community—of which the mommyblogosphere is one example—is an innovative genre of writing. I contend that mommyblogs are dialogic in several ways, some that are unique to the mommyblogosphere, and others that can be extrapolated to any blog community. In particular, since most blog readers are also bloggers themselves, they experience blogs in multiple ways: as writers, as readers, and as community members. I conclude that literary theory can contribute to the understanding of blogging as a cultural form and practice.