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

McCarthy, Jane Ribbens; Evans, Ruth; Bowlby, Sophie

doi:10.1080/02682621.2019.1679468

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This approach acknowledges that what is considered ‘normal’ or ‘expected’ in relation to death, bereavement and grief can be understood as social constructs, informed by and replicated in societal discourses, and that these can vary cross-culturally. 17 – 19 Our multistage analytical process involved reading, coding and interpreting each of the texts to identify recurring narrative patterns and themes within and across documents and to consider these in relation to existing social theories about death, grief and bereavement as well as media reporting on death. We further discuss our methods and the general narratives we identified in a separate publication 20 ; here we focus on discourses related to ‘saying goodbye’ and consider implications for end-of-life care and bereavement support.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Saying goodbye’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: A document analysis of online newspapers with implications for end of life care

2021

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Background: News media create a sense-making narrative, shaping, reflecting and enforcing cultural ideas and experiences. Reportage of COVID-related death and bereavement illuminates public perceptions of, and responses to, the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: We aimed to explore British newspaper representations of ‘saying goodbye’ before and after a COVID-related death and consider clinical implications. Design: Document analysis of UK online newspaper articles published during 2 week-long periods in March–April 2020. Data sources: The seven most-read online newspapers were searched: The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Sun, The Times and The Metro. Fifty-five articles discussed bereavement after a human death from COVID-19, published during 18/03–24/03/2020 (the UK’s transition into lockdown) or 08/04–14/04/2020 (the UK peak of the pandemic’s first wave). Results: The act of ‘saying goodbye’ (before, during and after death) was central to media representations of COVID bereavement, represented as inherently important and profoundly disrupted. Bedside access was portrayed as restricted, variable and uncertain, with families begging or bargaining for contact. Video-link goodbyes were described with ambivalence. Patients were portrayed as ‘dying alone’ regardless of clinician presence. Funerals were portrayed as travesties and grieving alone as unnatural. Articles focused on what was forbidden and offered little practical guidance. Conclusion: Newspapers portrayed COVID-19 as disruptive to rituals of ‘saying goodbye’ before, during and after death. Adaptations were presented as insufficient attempts to ameliorate tragic situations. More nuanced and supportive reporting is recommended. Clinicians and other professionals supporting the bereaved can play an important role in offering alternative narratives.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Funeral practices were 'ancient rituals' (Dma.A. 19) under threat from COVID-19: '[The pandemic is] reshaping many aspects of death, from the practicalities of handling infected bodies to meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of those left behind' Dma.A.19.…”

Section: Saying Goodbye After Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Saying goodbye’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: A document analysis of online newspapers with implications for end of life care

2021

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“…Work on the cultural significance of 'grief ' has been increasing over time, with Rosenblatt observing that 'No knowledge about grief is culture free ' (2008, p207). Cross-cultural work may highlight this, creating challenges to dominant ways of thinking about 'bereavement' (Walter, 2010;Ribbens McCarthy et al, 2019). But cross-cultural work does not necessarily analyse the key historic origins of the structures of power and resources relevant to variable understandings and experiences of life after death.…”

Section: What Is This Field 'Bereavement Studies'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies?

Hamilton

McCarthy

2022

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At this re-launch of the journal Bereavement, we explore the question, ‘Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies?’ We do not offer definitive answers, but rather seek to open up conversations. We briefly explore some of the main debates and explanations of what ‘decolonising’ means. In its broader understandings, this entails questions about the nature of the knowledge that underpins claims to ‘expertise’, since knowledge inevitably reflects the socio-historic position and biography of those who produce it. This raises uncomfortable issues about the ‘universality’ of that knowledge, and how to understand what is shared between human beings, including how to understand experiences of pain and suffering. In addressing the nature of, ‘bereavement studies’, we first consider complexities of language and translation, before observing the heavy domination of the ‘psy’ disciplines in affluent minority worlds, oriented towards individualised, medicalised and interventionist perspectives. We indicate work that seeks to challenge these limitations, including the decolonising of psychiatry itself. We argue the need for such decolonising work to go beyond cross-cultural work originating in affluent minority worlds, beyond interdisciplinarity, and beyond crucial work on equality, diversity and inclusivity. Bereavement, as a field of study and a set of practices, needs to take account of the legacies of complex colonial histories of exploitation and harm that continue to shape the world in general, and in particular, the aftermath of death in the continuing lives of the living. We conclude with some implications for ‘bereavement’ practice, from a UK perspective.

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“…Bereavement studies as a field is thus heavily shaped by the individualised medicalised perspectives of affluent, predominantly White, countries. Yet the experience of death and its aftermath in Majority Worlds illuminates significant omissions and assumptions from these Minority World perspectives, exemplified in recent research in Senegal (Ribbens McCarthy et al, 2019). Notably, death throughout Africa is largely seen as a communal event (Njue et al, 2015) rooted in extensive ‘family’ and community networks (Ribbens McCarthy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Aftermath of Death in the Continuing Lives of the Living: Extending ‘Bereavement’ Paradigms through Family and Relational Perspectives

2023

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While there is a significant interdisciplinary and international literature available on death, dying and bereavement, literature addressing responses to death is dominated by assumptions about individuality, framing ‘bereavement’ and ‘grief’ in terms of the inner psychic life of the individual. Scholarly literature tells us little about how the continuing aftermath of death is experienced in the everyday, relational lives of the living. Inspired by research from Majority Worlds, we consider literature that might enable a more ‘relational’ sociological approach, and explore what that might involve. We set out the potential for family sociology to provide an intrinsically (if variable) relational lens on the aftermath of death, along with examples of radical relational theorising more generally. We argue for a reframing and broadening of the dominant ‘bereavement studies’ of Minority Worlds towards a much-needed paradigm shift in understanding the continuing aftermath of death in the lives of the living.

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

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

‘Saying goodbye’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: A document analysis of online newspapers with implications for end of life care

‘Saying goodbye’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: A document analysis of online newspapers with implications for end of life care

Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies?

The Aftermath of Death in the Continuing Lives of the Living: Extending ‘Bereavement’ Paradigms through Family and Relational Perspectives

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