“It’s All Traumatizing”: An Ethnodrama Exploring the Experience of Pregnancy Loss Among K–12 Teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 1:45 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Restorative Arts: Repair, Remediation, and Healing (Table 3)

Abstract

This arts-based study explores the emotional and embodied experience of teachers who have endured pregnancy loss, likely an under-researched but frequent phenomenon. I conducted interviews with six teachers who experienced a loss in the last ten years, and in analyzing the data, found no clear themes or correlations between participant experiences and variables such as school type or state and local policies. Rather, each participant shared a heartbreakingly unique story. This study then became an attempt to share these stories artistically in all their complexity through an ethnodrama. The resulting script imagines my participants sharing stories of their losses in a support group. The script highlights the unique challenges of losing your child while teaching other people’s children.

Author

• Amanda Pinkham-Brown, East Carolina University