Obituary and Ancestral Worship: Analysis of A Contemporary Cultural Form in Nigeria

Lawuyi, Olatunde B.

doi:10.2307/3710874

Cited by 20 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…A death in 1946 was the oldest to be memorialized and 7.3 percent of all deaths had occurred twenty or more years prior to the posting of their memorials. Lawuyi (1988) and Alali (1993-94), in their studies of Nigerian obituaries, demonstrated the cultural importance of memorializing the deceased on ten-year anniversaries of their deaths. Within Western cultures, many bereavement theorists have described the heightened sense of loss at anniversaries (e.g., Pollock, 1989;Rando, 1988;Rosenblatt, 1996) anniversaries (typically birthdays), but there were varied catalysts for memorializing temporally removed deaths.…”

Section: Time Elapsed Since Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perpetual Care in Cyberspace: A Portrait of Memorials on the Web

Roberts

Vidal

2000

Omega (Westport)

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This study describes memorials in the newly created “virtual cemeteries.” Web memorials ( N = 276) from three cemeteries were coded for demographics about the deceased, characteristics of authors, and issues of content, audience, and theme. While memorials were extremely varied, they were written frequently for the young ( M age = 47, SD = 24) and for more males than females. Most deaths were recent, but 7.3 percent had occurred more than twenty years prior to the posting of their memorials. Authors included family members, friends, and others who were typically younger or from the same cohort as the deceased. Most memorials were addressed to the community, but 28.3 percent were written to the dead. The majority of memorials were written as stories or celebrations but other primary themes included: grief/missing the dead, retelling the circumstances of the death, and guilt. Web memorials are discussed as a resource to the bereaved and researchers alike, providing the bereaved with an opportunity to create a public memorial regardless of their relationship to the deceased, time elapsed since the death or message content and allowing researchers better access to personal writings undertaken during bereavement.

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Section: Time Elapsed Since Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perpetual Care in Cyberspace: A Portrait of Memorials on the Web

Roberts

Vidal

2000

Omega (Westport)

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“…However, most of these research interests are restricted to the developed industrialized sections of the world and none has tested the relationship between bereaves and type of death. Aside the efforts of few scholars [13][14][15], little is done in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. The interest to undertake this study is one such effort aimed at providing evidence based information and fostering understanding of the grief processes and reactions to bereavement.…”

Section: Journal Of Psychology and Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Grief Experiences in Response to the Death of a Significant Other among Undergraduates of University of Jos, Nigeria

Ukeh¹

2018

J Psychol Psychother

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This study investigates grief experiences in response to loss of a significant other among undergraduates in University of Jos, Nigeria adopting an ex post facto survey. A total of 45 students (27 males and 18 females) with mean age of 20 and half years completed the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG). Three hypotheses were tested using a two way ANOVA (Amos SPSS 21) analysis, results showed significant differences on the main effect of Nature of Relationship (NoR) (F (1,39)=1062.08, p=0.00); with a large effect size (partial eta squared=0.90), but not for Type of Death (ToD) (F (2,39)=1.60, p=0.21) and interaction effect (NoR*ToD) (F (2,39)=0.93, p=0.40) at the significant level of p ≤ 0.05.Comparisonsof the mean grief score for the intimate group (M=81.62, SD=6.71) also indicated to significantly differ from the Non-intimate group (M=27.33, SD=4.11). The import of this result is that majority of students experience grief at moderate and high levels particularly to a significant other they have intimate relationship with before death. It is concluded that the NoR between deceased and bereaved student is a good determinant of grief experiences. Recommendations are made to students to learn how to respond appropriately to bereavement to avoid complications, and education stakeholders of young people to intensify bereavement education and support in order to prevent adverse change in health and functioning.

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“…As the day the deceased died is mentioned, we are thus afforded a glimpse of the mourning period. Elsewhere I have estimated that the mourning can last over fifty years (Lawuyi, 1988).…”

Section: The Structure Of Obituary Publicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social marketing of elites: the advertised self in obituaries and congratulations in some Nigerian dailies

Lawuyi¹

1991

Africa

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This paper rests on the belief that various forms of advertisement of self such as the obituary and congratulation publications in the Nigerian daily newspapers exhibit a number of common themes in the imagery with which they handle the fact of achievement. Further, it argues that these themes may be a mix of modern and traditional criteria of success and represent an attempt by the elite to restate their superior attributes. The data were collected from Nigerian Daily Times and Daily Sketch, from interviews conducted with the business managers of the Daily Sketch and the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, with Guardian and Daily Times correspondents, and with newspaper vendors and advertisement agents based in Ile-Ife. A survey of attitudes to the publications and their implicit criteria of success was also investigated. In all, the consensus of opinion is that the publications do raise the revenue base of the print and the audio-visual media, that attitudes to the publications vary across ethnic, religious and class groups, and that the construction of selfhood within each of the advertisement formats is but an aspect of social relationships, mediated in this case through the forms of economic or political development in Nigeria.

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Obituary and Ancestral Worship: Analysis of A Contemporary Cultural Form in Nigeria

Cited by 20 publications

References 4 publications

Perpetual Care in Cyberspace: A Portrait of Memorials on the Web

Perpetual Care in Cyberspace: A Portrait of Memorials on the Web

Grief Experiences in Response to the Death of a Significant Other among Undergraduates of University of Jos, Nigeria

The social marketing of elites: the advertised self in obituaries and congratulations in some Nigerian dailies

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