Death, Grief and Culture in Kenya: Experiential Strengths-Based Research

Does recall time matter in verbal autopsies? Evidence from urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya

“…Some of the factors that could affected the timing of the VA are migration of the deceased family following the death due to changes in the economic situation and other factors. Mourning period’s in Kenya also vary based on tribe and cultures, with some cultures having extensive periods of mourning as compared to others, while in some cultures, the length of the mourning period will be dependent on marital status, age, gender, role in community, and birth order 27 . Data on tribe/ethnicity was, however, not available for further analysis in this study.…”

Diversity challenges from urban West Africa: How Senegalese family deaths illuminate dominant understandings of ‘bereavement’

“…Contrasting strongly with 'our own' Westernised expectations of death and bereavement as individualized experiences (Harris, 2016;Jakoby, 2012), death in Africa is generally understood as a community event (Nwoye, 2000(Nwoye, , 2005 discussed by Njue et al, 2015), including religious groupings as well as families The significance of religion for our interviewees thus lay as much in social networks as in individual belief systems, the latter of course being bound up with religious contexts more broadly, whether Roman Catholic or Sufi Muslim. Indeed, Islam itself is a central organizing feature of communal life (Bass and Snow, 2005;Creevey, 1996).…”

Making Sense of Family Deaths in Urban Senegal: Diversities, Contexts, and Comparisons

“…In our interviews, it became quickly apparent how much family members relied on each other, for daily survival, for emotional and practical support, for opportunities to succeed in life, and to manage in times of crisis, all of which fundamentally shaped the meaning of the death. Furthermore, while the term “family” itself has been extensively debated and explored in academic work (Ribbens McCarthy & Edwards, 2011), for our interviewees it was an understanding of “family” as a collective unit that predominated (Ribbens McCarthy, 2012b), with the survival of this unit as a crucial concern after a significant family death (Nordanger, 2007), resonating with the African concept of ‘ Ubuntu ’ (discussed further below).We’re united. My aunts; my mother’s younger sisters often come here and we meet.…”

“…You see, you should never say, ‘never’ … Papa had said it and he kept his word … ” And it really helped them. (Simone, 39-year-old Catholic widow)A family death thus not only ends a specific dyadic relationship, it also disrupts, and in some cases rends, the social and material fabric in which people’s lives are embedded, and through which their personal place and bodily survival in the world is secured (Nordanger, 2007). From our Senegalese interviews, we find that what is lost through the death may include the particular role played by the deceased in the web of family relationships; the practical support they had provided; and their friendship, companionship, and advice, while the gap that is left is expressed in the language of the void, of being alone, and the material consequences of the loss.…”