Bereavement Narratives

Bereavement is often treated as a psychological condition of the individual with both healthy and pathological forms. However, this empirically-grounded study argues that this is not always the best or only way to help the bereaved. In a radical departure, it emphasises normality and social and cultural diversity in grieving. Exploring the significance of the dying person’s final moments for those who are left behind, this book sheds new light on the variety of ways in which bereaved people maintain their relationship with dead loved ones and how the dead retain a significant social presence in the lives of the living. It draws practical conclusions for professionals in relation to the complex and social nature of grief and the value placed on the right to grieve in one’s own way – supporting and encouraging the bereaved person to articulate their own experience and find their own methods of coping. Based on new empirical research, Bereavement Narratives is an innovative and invaluable read for all students and researchers of death, dying and bereavement.

Bereavement is often treated as a psychological condition of the individual with both healthy and pathological forms. However, this empirically-grounded study argues that this is not always the best or only way to help the bereaved. In a radical departure, it emphasises normality and social and cultural diversity in grieving. Exploring the significance of the dying person’s final moments for those who are left behind, this book sheds new light on the variety of ways in which bereaved people maintain their relationship with dead loved ones and how the dead retain a significant social presence in the lives of the living. It draws practical conclusions for professionals in relation to the complex and social nature of grief and the value placed on the right to grieve in one’s own way – supporting and encouraging the bereaved person to articulate their own experience and find their own methods of coping. Based on new empirical research, Bereavement Narratives is an innovative and invaluable read for all students and researchers of death, dying and bereavement.

This collection shows what happens when facing the inevitable and sometimes expected death of a parent, and how such an ordinary part of life as parental death might connect with the children left behind. In many ways, individual deaths are extraordinary and leave a unique legacy – a kind of haunting. The authors' accounts seek to make sense of death through witnessing its enactment and recording its detail. All the authors are experienced researchers in the field of death studies, and their collective expertise encompasses ethnography, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The individual descriptions of death and grief capture the everyday practicalities of managing death and dying, including, for example, the difficulties of caring responsibilities and the realities of dealing with strained family relationships. These accounts show the raw detail of death; they are deeply personal observations framed within critical theories. As established scholars and practitioners that have researched and worked in end-of-life and bereavement care, the authors in this anthology offer a unique perspective on how identity is shaped by a close bereavement. The book employs a strong editorial narrative that blends memoir with theoretical engagement, and will be of interest to death studies scholars, as well as practitioners involved in end-of-life care and bereavement care and anyone who has experienced the death of a parent.

Explores what couple and individual stories say and do not say about the child's dying and death and about parent grief. The author uses narratives as his tool for the introduction and exploration of the many facets of parental grief.

This collection weaves together the personal narratives of a group of diverse scholars in academia in order to reflect on the ways that grief and hope matter for those situated within higher education. Each chapter explores a unique aspect of grief and loss, from experiencing a personal tragedy such as the loss of a loved one, to national and international grief such as campus shootings and refugee camp experiences, to experiencing racism and microaggressions as a woman of color in academia, to the implications of religious differences severing personal ties as an individual navigates research and academic studies. Unlike most resources examining grief, this collection pushes beyond notions of sorrow as solely individual, and instead situates moments of loss and hurt as ones that matter politically, academically, professionally, and personally. The editors and their authors offer pathways forward to academics, researchers, teachers, pedagogues, and thinkers who grapple with grief in a variety of forms, transforming this book into a critical resource of hope to those in the field of education (and others) who may feel the effects of an otherwise solitary journey of grief, to create an awareness of solidarity and support that some may not realize exists within academic circles.

What do Dexter King, Condoleeza Rice, Mackenzie King, Corazon Aquino, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill Cosby, Tony Dungy, Theodore Roosevelt, George H. W. and Barbara Bush, Caroline Kennedy, Arthur Ashe, Lady Bird Johnson, Colin Powell and C. S. Lewis have in common? They all have significant grief experiences that have shaped their lives in dramatic ways, stories that have also shaped our lives. Grieving individuals, through "borrowing narratives," look for inspiration in biographic, historical and memoir accounts of political and religious leaders, celebrities, sports figures, and cultural icons. In a time of diminishing trust in heroes and "sainted leaders", who will speak to us from their grief? In a diverse society grief counselors and educators need to identify and "mine" the experienced grief(s) of historical personalities for resources for reflection and meaning-making. This book will help readers: find, "read," evaluate, extract, and adapt historical/biographical materials create bio-narrative resources for use in grief counseling and grief education explore the wide diversity of experienced grief in biographical narratives identify ways to "harness" grief narratives for personal reflection.

Through discussions of various theories of grief, narratives of the bereaved obtained in interviews with 22 men and women, case study analysis, and chapter summaries, this text integrates the literature about and the bereavement experiences of partners in varying types of relationships.

Everyone from health care workers to family therapists will find a treasure trove of insight into how young people deal with the deaths of loved ones. This book draws together a range of research and includes narrative-based case studies to compose a comprehensive overview of various theories and research.