4th Global Conference
Wednesday 12th July - Friday 14th July 2006
Mansfield College, Oxford
Session 7A: Death and the Environment
Chair: Paul Voninski
Honoured Guests, Honoured Places: Architecture, Design and End of
Life Care
Ken
Worpole
Writer & Broadcaster, London, United Kingdom
This paper discusses the
architectural and design aspects of dying in
hospitals. It is based on research commissioned by the Irish Hospice
Association 'Care for People Dying in Hospital Project', 2005-6.
It looks
briefly at the typologies of buildings and institutions which have
been created historically to house the sick, the elderly and the dying,
and
the sometime blurring of boundaries between care, custody and comfort.
It
also discusses the tensions between creating an ethos of dying well at
the
right time in the right place, and a culture of medical interventionism
which can often be highly disruptive to this process.
The fact that hostels,
hospitals, hotels and hospices all share a common
etymological root, suggests that there is still much room for innovation.
The aim should be to create a public culture of personalised palliative
care
for those dying in hospitals that overcomes the historic constraints
of
institutionalisation. Design is central to this process.
Environmental Grief®: Hope and Healing
Kriss
A. Kevorkian
The Center for Conscious Dying and Grieving, Los Angeles, CA USA
Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, killer storms and a recent tsunami illustrate the awesome power of Mother Nature. We pollute, destroy, reshape our planet and eliminate animal habitats and ecosystems in order to fit our needs and make room for more people. This research focused specifically on one ecosystem that is declining due to human interactions?he southern resident killer whale population in Puget Sound. There are three main causes for the decline of these whales: loss of food resources, toxic pollution, and boat traffic. The researcher theorized that people who were conscious of the plight of these whales would react to their decline by experiencing *environmental grief©,* the grief reaction stemming from the environmental loss of ecosystems caused by natural or man-made events*. *This is a unique form of *disenfranchised grief*,* *which is grief that is not openly accepted or acknowledged in society. The research question asked, How do members of the American Cetacean Society react to the decline of the southern resident killer whale population, and are their reactions consistent with environmental grief? A historical perspective and literature review were developed to include the Gaia Theory, and the subjects of deep ecology, and the ecology of grief, to establish a foundation for environmental grief. The heuristic method of research was used, probing into the lived experiences of eight people. Coresearchers were interviewed and asked to share their reactions and experiences related to the decline of the southern resident killer whale population. Themes emerging from these interviews included anger, frustration, depression, sadness, hopelessness, and helplessness consistent with reactions of environmental grief. For many, naming their reactions validated the feelings they had experienced for some time. As social scientists, it behooves us to support people who are reacting to environmental grief whether we are working with lay-people or professionals.
The Making of 'Good' Memorialisation
Kate
Woodthorpe
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United
Kingdom
Within the contemporary British ‘death industry’ there
is a tendency for professionals and practitioners dealing with the dying
and with the dead to have little regular contact. As a result academic
work, particularly in the social and health sciences, has come to reflect
this partition between areas of expertise, as some of the key authors
develop specialisms in one area or the other. There is now a wealth of
research on experiences of dying, and a growing body of work on post-death
practice, but there remains scope for a greater integration between these
important and challenging areas of study.
This paper is relating typologies
of ‘good’ dying to memorialisation
practices evidenced in contemporary sites of remembrance. Specifically,
it is Mary Bradbury’s influential concepts of good death that are
useful mechanisms through which to understand memorialisation behaviour.
By transposing these theoretical perspectives onto the cemetery landscape,
we can begin to make sense of some of the current conflicts and tensions
arising out of memorialisation activity.
Taken from an ongoing ethnographic
study of the City of London Cemetery, this paper will use data from cemetery
users and staff to illustrate and explore the meaning of individual and
shared experiences of memorialisation, and the expression of private
feelings in a public space. How competing notions of what constitutes ‘appropriate’ activity
are negotiated by individuals and groups will be examined, with reference
to what these norms of behaviour might reveal (or conceal) about contemporary
understandings of bereavement and ‘good’ practices at sites
of remembrance. The discussion will be framed by the current emphasis
the cemetery management are placing on heritage, the very real issue
of grave space running out in London, and principally how these factors
impact upon our understandings of this dynamic space.
© Inter-Disciplinary.Net 2006