Enter, the Chorus: An Ethnodrama of Academic Motherhood in (and Beyond) the COVID-19 Pandemic

How might ethnodrama (re)present ways that academic mothers responded to the collision of work/home, especially as it was intensified by virtual/electronic tools like Zoom? In 2021, we interviewed 54 academic mothers about their experiences in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. In hearing their stories, we became interested in the ways spaces were constructed for both privacy and/or accessibility, relative to what was (in)visible when on camera. Noting the interconnectedness of their experiences and work/home spaces, this paper elevates the possibilities of ethnodrama as humanizing methodological means of emphasizing the individual yet interconnected perspectives and lives for these academic mothers. Drawing inspiration from the Chorus, as a literary device grounded in ancient Greece and feminism, ethnodrama explores how these participants came to create spaces in relation to their roles as academic mothers. The resulting tale(s) and characters are, like dramatic Choruses, many and one: specific and universal, descriptive and interpretive, historical and prophetic.