Carrying embodied histories: translating immersive genocide fellowships into teacher-led professional development

This qualitative case study examines how teachers experience and translate a year-long fellowship on Armenian Genocide education into professional development (PD) for peers. Drawing on Adult Learning Theory and relational pedagogy, the study foregrounds the embodied, affective, and communal dimensions of long-term teacher learning. Interviews with four US-based fellows reveal three interrelated themes: (1) personal and professional renewal through emotionally immersive engagement; (2) the sustaining role of community and critical friendship; and (3) the ethical and pedagogical tensions of adapting experiential knowledge into scalable PD formats. Participants navigated constraints of time, audience, and institutional context by offering ‘lesson seeds,’ resilience-centered framing, and ongoing collegial support. Findings suggest that genocide education PD must move past content transmission toward sustained, relational, and ethically grounded models that prepare educators for the emotional and political complexities of teaching traumatic histories across contexts.