Re/Assembling the pregnant and parenting teenager: narratives from the field (s)

In 2003, Wendy Luttrell posed an important question: what might result if we were able to turn questions of judgement about pregnant and parenting teenagers into questions of interest about their sense of self and identity-making? This book takes up the challenge, offering a re/assemblage of what is, can be and perhaps should be known about teenage pregnancy and parenting in the context of the twenty-first century. The collection presents original contributions from leading commentators in four key contexts: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland, all sites of elevated incidence of and/or concern around what is commonly articulated as the «problem» of teenage pregnancy and parenting. In offering a multi-disciplinary reading of the narratives of young men and women, this volume engages with the ambiguity shared by all of us in confronting the life transition that is pregnancy and parenting. Cover 1 Contents 9 Foreword (Wendy Luttrell) 11 Bibliography 16 1: Conceiving a Re/Assemblage of Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting (Annelies Kamp / Majella McSharry) 17 Re/Assemblage 17 Compelling consequences 21 Context and constructions 25 Moving beyond the dichotomy of ruination/salvation 27 The gathering that follows 34 Conclusion 38 Bibliography 39 2: Within and Apart: Re/Positioning the Education of Teenage Parents in Aotearoa New Zealand (Annelies Kamp) 43 Introduction 43 A 1970s’ narrative 44 Re/Assembling the teenage parent as student 47 The advent of Teenage Parents Unit 50 Within, apart and beyond: Extending the fields of education 55 Constructing particular policy problems 58 Concluding thoughts 61 Bibliography 63 3: What’s Happening to My Body?: The Growing, Glowing and Grotesque Teenage Belly (Majella McSharry) 67 The body inside 68 Interrogating the body 70 Weighing the body 72 The public pregnant body 77 The breastfeeding body 81 Conclusion 84 Note 86 Bibliography 86 4: Teen Mothering in the United States: Fertile Ground for Shifting the Paradigm (Lee SmithBattle) 91 Introducing teen mothering as a problem in the United States 91 An alarmist paradigm emerges 92 The science of teen mothering 94 Qualitative studies of teen mothering 101 Intervention research 105 Paradigm shift or retrenchment? 106 Reimagining the journeys of pregnant and parenting teens 110 Bibliography 111 5: ‘It changed my life’: Rethinking the Consequences of Teenage Fatherhood (Jennifer Beggs Weber) 121 Introduction 121 Constructing teen fatherhood 124 Studying teen fathers 127 Constructing teen fatherhood 124 Studying teen fathers 127 ‘It changed my life’ 129 Middle-class teen fathers: ‘I’m tryin’ to make my life better to make hers better too’ 130 Working-class teen fathers: ‘Right now, I just gotta keep workin’’ 132 Teen fathers in poverty: ‘It’s only hard if you make it hard’ 134 Rethinking the consequences of teen fatherhood 138 Bibliography 139 6: Irish Television and the Assemblage of Personal Narratives of Teenage Pregnancy and Abortion (Áine Ryan / Debbie Ging / Annelies Kamp / Majella McSharry) 143 Context and crisis 143 Introducing the data sources 146 Personal narrative, disequilibrium and re/assemblage 147 Irish television and exposure to personal narratives of pregnancy and parenting 150 The absent presence of the pregnant and parenting teenager 154 Concluding thoughts 157 Bibliography 161 7: The Construction of Teenage Parenting in the Republic of Ireland (Ciara Bradley) 163 Introduction 163 The social construction of Irish teenage motherhood 165 Social policy responses to unmarried pregnancy 170 The development of social security for those parenting alone 1970–2000 172 Legislative context 174 Social change in Ireland: Changing contexts changing lives? 178 Conclusion 179 Bibliography 180 8: Irish Travellers and Teenage Pregnancy: A Feminist, Cultural, Relativist Analysis (Fiona McGaughey) 189 Introduction 189 About this research and methodology 191 About Travellers 193 Traveller attitudes to sex and sex education 196 Marriage, family and gender roles 199 Pregnancy planning, patriarchy and feminist cultural relativism 203 Conclusion 206 Bibliography 207 9: Personal Decisions, Responsible Mothering: Un-picking Key Decisions Made by Young Mothers (Kyla Ellis-Sloan) 211 Introduction 211 ‘Becoming a teenage mother’: Study context and methods 215 ‘Good’ motherhood versus ‘good’ teenage motherhood: Conflicts around education and employment 216 Leaving a violent relationship 219 Teenage mothers’ relationship decisions: Staying together? 222 ‘Good’ mothering, ‘good’ fathers and ‘the’ family 224 Concluding thoughts: Re-contextualizing ‘the’ teenage mother 228 Bibliography 231 10: Teenagers, Sexualities-Education Assemblages and Sexual Citizenship: A New Materialist Analysis (Pam Alldred / Nick J. Fox) 235 Introduction 235 A new materialist perspective 239 The affective micropolitics of sexualities 242 Three approaches to sexualities education 245 Discussion: Assembling sexual citizenship 250 Bibliography 255 11: What If Becoming a Teenage Parent Saved Your Life? (Jenny Hindin Miller) 259 Background 259 Faith’s story 261 A short history of Karanga Mai Young Parents’ College 263 Recognizing and responding to students’ needs 267 Assembling lives 270 Andy’s story 270 Kate’s story 271 Tatiana’s story 272 ‘It was the one place where I felt I was OK’ 273 Assembling positive identities 276 ‘Yoohoo – look at me!’ 278 Teenage motherhood: ‘It just changed my life completely’ 279 Bibliography 282 12: The ‘Missing’ Parent: Teenage Fathers Talk About the Meaning of Early Parenthood (Keith Tuffin / Gareth Rouch / Karen Frewin) 285 Introduction 285 Dominant discourses of the teenage father 286 Teenage fathers in Aotearoa New Zealand 288 A discourse of responsibility 289 A discourse of intergenerational repair 290 A discourse of positive transformation 291 A discourse of identity development 293 Revisiting the international literature on teenage fatherhood 294 Struggles 294 The meaning of fatherhood 296 Relationships 299 Summary and concluding insights 301 Bibliography 303 Coda: The Promise of Re/Assembling the Pregnant and Parenting Teenager (Annelies Kamp / Majella McSharry) 307 Bibliography 315 Notes on Contributors 317 Index 321 Drawing in contributions from the United States, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and Aotearoa New Zealand, this book seeks to foreground shifting experiences of teenage pregnancy and parenting in time and space. In the process, the work cuts across enduring ?stigma? contests and dominant discourses which seek to capture, understand and render fixable the ?problem? of teenage pregnancy and parenting, whichever discourse is being privileged. This book offers a re/assemblage of what is, can be and should be known about teenage pregnancy and parenting in the twenty-first century. It examines the narratives of young men and women in the USA, the UK, Aotearoa New Zealand and Ireland, all sites of elevated concern around what is often articulated as the 'problem' of teenage parenting