1st Edition

Humanizing Grief in Higher Education Narratives of Allyship and Hope

Edited By Nicole Sieben, Stephanie Shelton Copyright 2021
    214 Pages 15 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    214 Pages 15 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    By showcasing asset-based approaches inspired by individual reflection, research, and experience, this volume offers a fresh and timely perspective on grief and trauma within higher education and illustrates how these approaches can serve as opportunities for hope and allyship.

    Featuring a broad range of contributions from scholars and professionals involved in educational research and academia, Humanizing Grief in Higher Education explores the varied ways in which students, scholars, and educators experience and navigate grief and trauma. Set into four distinct parts, chapters deploy personal narratives situated within interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research frameworks to illustrate how issues such as race, gender, socio-economic class, and politics intersect with experiences of personal and professional grief in the academy. A variety of intersectional fields of study – from positive psychology, counselling, feminist and queer theories, to trauma theory and disability studies – inform an interdisciplinary framework for processing traumatic experiences and finding ways to hope. These narrative explorations are positioned as key to developing a sense of hope amongst the grieving and those supporting them.

    This text will benefit researchers, doctoral students, and academics in the fields of Higher Education, teacher education, trauma studies, and mental health education. Those interested in positive and educational psychology, as well as grief counselling in adults, will also enjoy this volume. Finally, this collection serves as a companion for those who find themselves grappling with losses, broadly defined.

    Chapter 1: Introduction: Intersecting Hope with Actionable Frameworks in the Academy: Allyhood in Grief

    Nicole Sieben and Stephanie Anne Shelton

    PART I: ALLYSHIP THROUGH WRITING AND LITERATURE

    Chapter 2: Changing Cultural Constructions of Grief through the Shared Story:

    Lessons from Disability Studies

    Margaret Rose Torrell

    Chapter 3: Agency in Writing: Managing Narratives of Trauma in Student Writing

    Danielle Lee

    Chapter 4: "Conceit Upon her Father": An Unintentional Confrontation with Grief and Hope in the English Classroom

    Adam Wolfsdorf

    Chapter 5: "The Grief that Fills One’s Heart": Pairing Loss Narratives and Graphic Young Adult Literature

    Shelbie Witte and Jennifer S. Dail

    Chapter 6: Opening to the Hauntings of Grief and Mourning: Writing our Way towards Hope

    Linda Henderson and Alison L. Black

    PART II: COMMUNITIES OF HOPE AND HEALING

    Chapter 7: Opportunities Lost and Found: A Gay Educator’s Grief and Process of Hope

    S. Adam Crawley

    Chapter 8: Finding Hope Through Hope Agents and Narratives in Times of Mourning

    Elsie Lindy Olan and Donita Grissom

    Chapter 9: Collaborative Empathy as a Pathway to Hope: Grief and Teacher Education

    Kia Jane Richmond and Cara Anderson

    Chapter 10: "Why I Hate the Wind": Magical Realism and Re-Presenting Trauma Christopher Worthman

    Chapter 11: It Is Contagious, Honey

    Katherine C. Brown

    PART III: GRIEVING FOR/WITH STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

    Chapter 12: Hiding Behind Closed Classroom Doors and Opening up Space for Sharing Grief

    Mandie B. Dunn

    Chapter 13: Designing "Patterns" after Hurricane Sandy Uproots Structures

    Josefa Pace

    Chapter 14: Grieving when Students Make the News: Two Teachers’ Reflections

    Stacia L. Long

    Chapter 15: When a Teacher Lost a Student: A Narrative Pathway through Grief

    Nick Thompson

    Chapter 16: Grief as the Pathway to Hope in the Teaching Profession

    Leora Wolf-Prusan

    Chapter 17: How Experiences with Student Grief Inform Our Practice: Teaching Teachers to Navigate Healing Processes

    Katie Rybakova, Katahdin Cook Whitt, and Christina Christie

    PART IV: FINDING HOPE THROUGH ACTIVISM

    Chapter 18: My Father’s Keeper: Pathway to Grief-Inspired Activism

    Ericka Roland

    Chapter 19: When the Music Changes, so does the Dance: Critical Racial Events as Told Through a Narrative Inquiry Beat

    Kara M. Taylor

    Chapter 20: Homeless Adolescents, Grief, and Advocacy for Others: Hope for the Future

    Kate Shands Haq

    Chapter 21: Visualizing Hope: Digital Storytelling with Refugee-background Children

    Toby Emert

    Chapter 22: Conclusion: Hope as an Ally to Grieving and Healing

    Nicole Sieben and Stephanie Anne Shelton

    Biography

    Nicole Sieben is Assistant Professor of Secondary English Education, Coordinator of the Graduate English Education Programs, and Director of the Graduate Education Programs at SUNY College at Old Westbury, USA.

    Stephanie Anne Shelton is Assistant Professor of Qualitative Research in the College of Education, and Affiliate Faculty Member in the Department of Gender and Race Studies at The University of Alabama, USA.