Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka

Widger, Tom

doi:10.1177/006996671104600205

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…This has previously been found in Sri Lankan self-harm literature where several studies have highlighted how a purpose of self-harm is to communicate something that cannot be said in words, typically to close relations ( Marecek, 1998 ; Sørensen et al., 2017 ). The importance of kinship in the context of self-harm in Sri Lanka was, for example, highlighted in an ethnographic study ( Widger, 2012b ) and a qualitative study of self-harm in rural Sri Lanka showed that the majority of self-harm cases were initiated by a partner-conflict ( Sørensen et al., 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Harm and Suicide in Sri Lankan Printed Newspapers

Sørensen

Pearson

Armstrong

et al. 2021

Crisis

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Abstract. Background: Media reporting may influence suicidal behavior. In-depth exploration of how self-harm and suicide are portrayed in newspaper articles in a middle-income country such as Sri Lanka is lacking. Aims: We aimed to explore how self-harm and suicide are portrayed in Sri Lankan printed newspapers. Method: Seven English- and Sinhala-language Sri Lankan newspapers were screened for articles reporting on self-harm and suicide (December 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015). A thematic analysis was conducted. Results: In the 78 articles identified for analysis, certain aspects were overemphasized (inappropriate behavior) and others underemphasized (alcohol and complexities of self-harm). Explanations of self-harm were one-sided and a suicide prevention narrative was lacking. Limitations: Another time-frame and inclusion of Tamil newspapers as well as social media and online publications would provide additional understanding. Conclusion: The study found an indication of simplistic reporting. Greater focus on prevention and a nuanced portrayal of self-harm could reduce stigma and imitative behavior.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Harm and Suicide in Sri Lankan Printed Newspapers

Sørensen

Pearson

Armstrong

et al. 2021

Crisis

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“…Anthropologists and other South Asian suicide experts have argued that suicide is inherently a social act, one that is inextricable from the local sociocultural and political milieu (Colucci and Lester 2012; Kleinman 2008; Eckersley and Dear 2002). Studies from low-income settings reveal how interpersonal conflict (Bourke 2003; Widger 2012b), female disempowerment (Canetto and Sakinofsky 1998; Canetto 2008; Widger 2012a; Marecek 1998), family and cultural histories of suicidal behavior (Widger 2015; Vijayakumar and Rajkumar 1999; Colucci and Lester 2012), and political injustices (Billaud 2012; Parry 2012; Chua 2009; Munster 2015) can deeply influence suicidality in the context of rapid global development (Chua 2014; Halliburton 1998). These works have emphasized the social meaning of suicide, where such acts are performative and respond to abuse, shame, revenge, or abandonment (Broz and Münster 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide in Nepal: Qualitative Findings from a Modified Case-Series Psychological Autopsy Investigation of Suicide Deaths

Hagaman

Khadka²,

Wutich

et al. 2018

Cult Med Psychiatry

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South Asia accounts for the majority of the world's suicide deaths, but typical psychiatric or surveillance-based research approaches are limited due to incomplete vital surveillance. Despite rich anthropological scholarship in the region, such work has not been used to address public health gaps in surveillance and nor inform prevention programs designed based on surveillance data. Our goal was to leverage useful strategies from both public health and anthropological approaches to provide rich narrative reconstructions of suicide events, told by family members or loved ones of the deceased, to further contextualize the circumstances of suicide. Specifically, we sought to untangle socio-cultural and structural patterns in suicide cases to better inform systems-level surveillance strategies and salient community-level suicide prevention opportunities. Using a mixed-methods psychological autopsy approach for cross-cultural research (MPAC) in both urban and rural Nepal, 39 suicide deaths were examined. MPAC was used to document antecedent events, characteristics of persons completing suicide, and perceived drivers of each suicide. Patterns across suicide cases include (1) lack of education (72% of cases); (2) life stressors such as poverty (54%), violence (61.1%), migrant labor (33% of men), and family disputes often resulting in isolation or shame (56.4%); (3) family histories of suicidal behavior (62%), with the majority involving an immediate family member; (4) gender differences: female suicides were attributed to hopeless situations, such as spousal abuse, with high degrees of social stigma. In contrast, male suicides were most commonly associated with drinking and resulted from internalized stigma, such as financial failure or an inability to provide for their family; (5) justifications for suicide were attributions to 'fate' and personality characteristics such as 'stubbornness' and 'egoism'; (5) power dynamics and available agency precluded some families from disputing the death as a suicide and also had implications for the condemnation or justification of particular suicides. Importantly, only 1 out of 3 men and 1 out of 6 women had any communication to family members about suicidal ideation prior to completion. Findings illustrate the importance of MPAC methods for capturing cultural narratives evoked after completed suicides, recognizing culturally salient warning signs, and identifying potential barriers to disclosure and justice seeking by families. These findings elucidate how suicide narratives are structured by family members and reveal public health opportunities for creating or supplementing mortality surveillance, intervening in higher risk populations such as survivors of suicide, and encouraging disclosure.

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“…Our goal was to understand the interpersonal dynamics of girls’ lives, especially their intimate relations with parents and kin. Relational conflicts among family members are very often the precipitating circumstance for suicide-like acts (Konradsen, van der Hoek, & Peiris, 2006; Marecek & Senadheera, 2012; Sørensen, 1996; Widger, 2012, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Embodied shame and gendered demeanours in young women in Sri Lanka

Abeyasekera

Marecek

2019

Feminism & Psychology

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In South Asia, shame is valued as a virtue and a means of social control, particularly for women. For Sri Lankan women, shame ( læjja-baya) denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement. For unmarried girls, sexual improprieties—rumoured or real—threaten loss of respectability and jeopardise a girl’s marriageability and her family’s honour. We investigated the dynamics of shame and norms of propriety in adolescent girls’ lives by re-analysing a subset of interviews of daughters and mothers (N = 24 pairs) collected in a prior study of nonfatal suicidal acts. Many such acts took place after girls were accused of violating norms of propriety. Other such acts served to ‘blame and shame’ wrongdoers. Girls and their mothers reported further that public knowledge of a suicide-like act sullied a girl’s reputation because onlookers ascribed sexualised meanings to it. We point out the incommensurability between parents’ goals and aspirations for their daughters’ educational and occupation attainments and the rigid demands for respectable comportment to which they must conform.

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Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka

Cited by 14 publications

References 19 publications

A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Harm and Suicide in Sri Lankan Printed Newspapers

A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Harm and Suicide in Sri Lankan Printed Newspapers

Suicide in Nepal: Qualitative Findings from a Modified Case-Series Psychological Autopsy Investigation of Suicide Deaths

Embodied shame and gendered demeanours in young women in Sri Lanka

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