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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 22 first-person narratives about the experience of pregnancy loss. The authors explore various feminist theories, narrative theories and performance theories as well as other 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 institutionally. This book would work well in a variety of graduate and undergraduate classes including those in the medical humanities, feminist and gender studies, life writing, health communication and qualitative methodology.
What makes this book different or unique from others in the same genre?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 unique 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 book also includes appendices that feature lists of novels, television shows and films that depict pregnancy loss.
About the authorJay Baglia, assistant professor in the College of Communication, has teaching and research interests that coalesce around the topics of health communication, the body and performance. More specifically, he is interested in the ways that human beings and popular media "language" aspects of physical experience, especially relative to gender, sexuality, and ethnic diversity. He completed his Ph
D in 2003 at the University of South Florida and, since then, has had the opportunity to teach and complete research at a variety of teaching institutions (including hospitals) all over the United States. He's most interested in conducting research that will improve health care and the lives of patients, their families and the health care professionals who care for them. Toward that end, he seeks collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to health communication research.
Publisher, publication date, lengthPeter Lang Publishing (New York), 2015, 351 pages