Communicating Pregnancy Loss
Narrative as a Method for Change
Published on 30. December 2014
Book
Hardback
351 pages
978-1-4331-2397-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book is the Winner of the OSCLG Outstanding Book Award
The loss of a desired pregnancy or the inability to experience pregnancy are intensely personal phenomena; these losses are also, in our culture at least, extremely private. Communicating Pregnancy Loss is a collection of first-person narratives about the experience of pregnancy loss. Although there is no shortage of books that help prospective parents cope with an unintended pregnancy loss or 'survive' infertility, most of these books are authored by physicians or therapists and address pregnancy loss through the language of guidance. This book is different. It is the first of its kind because the contributors (primarily communication scholars but also healthcare personnel and other scholars from the social sciences) tell their story of loss in their own words, offering a diverse collection of narratives that span experience and identity. The authors employ various feminist theories, narrative theories, and performance theories as well as other well-known communication theories and concepts. The book's narrative approach to writing about and thereby understanding pregnancy loss offers readers a method for changing the way pregnancy loss is understood personally, culturally, and politically.
Reviews / Votes
<<Deeply moving and evocative, Communicating Pregnancy Loss strikes a perfect chord that will resonate throughout the field of health communication. This courageous collection is unique in its pairing of compelling narratives of loss with critical analyses that contextualize authors' experiences within cutting-edge theory and concepts. Silverman and Baglia's volume is the perfect text for enriching health communication courses, a must-have for researchers in women's health and narrative medicine, and a deep comfort for women and their partners living with pregnancy loss. Bravo to the authors and editors for breaking the silences that surround miscarriage and infertility.>> (Laura L. Ellingson, Santa Clara University, former Senior Editor for Qualitative, Interpretive, and Rhetorical Methods at Health Communication and author of Communicating in the Clinic: Negotiating Frontstage and Backstage Teamwork)<<The most exciting development in scholarship on pregnancy loss in years. Moving personal accounts paired with savvy theoretical insights. A must-read for health care providers who may encounter those undergoing pregnancy loss.>> (Linda Layne, University of Rochester, National Science Foundation, and author of Motherhood Lost: A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America)
<<Bearing witness. Imagining otherwise. Moving audiences and mobilizing resources. The potential of storytelling to transform selves and society is revealed in this poignant collection of stories artfully compiled by Silverman and Baglia. The storytellers who populate this volume write with clarity and raw honesty, inviting readers to consider the social and political dimensions of pregnancy loss. Healthcare practitioners and the general public alike will find Communicating Pregnancy Loss an invaluable resource for enacting social support and shifting public dialogue surrounding pregnancy loss specifically and vulnerability writ large.>> (Lynn Harter, Ohio University; author of Imagining New Normals: A Narrative Framework for Health Communication) <<Deeply moving and evocative, Communicating Pregnancy Loss strikes a perfect chord that will resonate throughout the field of health communication. This courageous collection is unique in its pairing of compelling narratives of loss with critical analyses that contextualize authors' experiences within cutting-edge theory and concepts. Silverman and Baglia's volume is the perfect text for enriching health communication courses, a must-have for researchers in women's health and narrative medicine, and a deep comfort for women and their partners living with pregnancy loss. Bravo to the authors and editors for breaking the silences that surround miscarriage and infertility.>> (Laura L. Ellingson, Santa Clara University, former Senior Editor for Qualitative, Interpretive, and Rhetorical Methods at Health Communication and author of Communicating in the Clinic: Negotiating Frontstage and Backstage Teamwork)
<<The most exciting development in scholarship on pregnancy loss in years. Moving personal accounts paired with savvy theoretical insights. A must-read for health care providers who may encounter those undergoing pregnancy loss.>> (Linda Layne, University of Rochester, National Science Foundation, and author of Motherhood Lost: A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America)
<<Bearing witness. Imagining otherwise. Moving audiences and mobilizing resources. The potential of storytelling to transform selves and society is revealed in this poignant collection of stories artfully compiled by Silverman and Baglia. The storytellers who populate this volume write with clarity and raw honesty, inviting readers to consider the social and political dimensions of pregnancy loss. Healthcare practitioners and the general public alike will find Communicating Pregnancy Loss an invaluable resource for enacting social support and shifting public dialogue surrounding pregnancy loss specifically and vulnerability writ large.>> (Lynn Harter, Ohio University; author of Imagining New Normals: A Narrative Framework for Health Communication)
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2014
Peter Lang Verlag
€47.05
Shipment within 7-9 days
E-Book
03/2014
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€54.49
Available for download
E-Book
03/2014
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€53.99
Available for download
Persons
Rachel E. Silverman (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor of Communication at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Jay Baglia (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University.
Jay Baglia (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University.
Content
Contents: Patricia Geist-Martin: Foreword: The Sacred Number Four - Rachel E. Silverman/Jay Baglia: The Politics of Pregnancy Loss - Maria Brann: Nine Years Later and Still Waiting: When Health Care Providers' Social Support Never Arrives - Jennifer J. Bute: Honoring Stories of Miscarriage in the Medical Context: A Plea to Health Care Providers - Jennifer L. Fairchild/Michael Irvin Arrington: Looking for Their Light: Advancing Knowledge and Supporting Women by Listening to Pregnancy Loss Narratives - Julie L. G. Walker/Benjamin M. Walker: Unscripted Loss: A Hesitant Narrative of a Reconstructed Family - Elissa Foster/Jodi McGivern: A Story We Can Live With: The Role of the Medical Sonographer in the Diagnosis of Fetal Demise - Kristann Heinz/Elissa Foster: Searching for Grace - Lisa Jo Schilling/Rachel E. Silverman: When the Professional Is Personal: Case Studies of Pregnancy Loss, My Story of Pregnancy Loss - Caryn E. Medved: Infertility, Professional Identity, and Consciousness-Raising - Rebecca Kennerly: Hidden in Plain Sight: Mystoriography, Melancholic Mourning, and the Poetics of [My Pregnancy] Loss - Michaela D. E . Meyer: On the Identity Politics of Pregnancy: An Autoethnographic Journey Through/In Reproductive Time - Deleasa Randall-Griffiths: The Healing Journey - Lisa Weckerle: Once Upon a Time: A Tale of Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, and (Re)Birth - Elizabeth Root: The Empty Woman: Dealing With Sadness and Loss After a Hysterectomy - Jay Baglia: Melancholy Baby: Time, Emplotment, and Other Notes on Our Miscarriage - Jennifer Morey Hawkins: Dying Inside of Me: Unexplained Recurrent Early Pregnancy Loss - Renata Ferdinand: Moving Through Miscarriage: A Personal Narrative - Julie Novak/Eduardo Gargurevich: Barren and Abandoned: Our Representations Left Unshared and Uncharted - Desiree Rowe: Cruel Optimism and the Problem With Positivity: Miscarriage as a Model for Living - Sherokee Ilse/Kara L.C. Jones: Turning Tragedy Into Triumph: A Hero's Journey From Bereaved Parent to International Advocate - Rachel E. Silverman: Breaking Through the Shame and Silence: A Media-Centered Approach to Consciousness-Raising - Jay Baglia/Rachel E. Silverman: Afterword: How to Do Things With Stories.