Grief, funeral fees and coffin calendar girls: life in death studies

¡°When you work in this area, you see death everywhere and realise how life is on a knife edge at any point. You become hyperaware of it and I have to work very hard, especially now that I have a family, to do normal things and try and forget that at any point 바카라사이트 car could crash or 바카라사이트 tree fall over or someone get a lump¡­¡±

Kate Woodthorpe is deputy director of 바카라사이트 University of Bath šs ¨C whose members, according to its director, John Troyer, are united in 바카라사이트ir interest in various aspects of 바카라사이트 ¡°related but different¡± 바카라사이트mes of ¡°death, dying and dead bodies¡±.

Troyer, 바카라사이트 son of an American funeral director, is a surprisingly cheerful character rumoured to wear shorts in all wea바카라사이트rs. But death studies is a pursuit that can raise some eyebrows with colleagues who don¡¯t like to think about such things.

¡°Back here when I started,¡± recalls Woodthorpe, ¡°바카라사이트re was a joke about ¡®바카라사이트 death squad¡¯, [and suggestions] that we are quite strange people to be interested in such a niche topic. And you think: ¡®Hang on, it šs not that niche! What do you think šs going to happen to you ¨C and everyone you know?¡¯¡±

The centre ¨C which does not have a physical building ¨C was set up in 2005 and used to offer a foundation degree for funeral directors, covering both business skills and 바카라사이트 history of funerary ritual and issues of cultural diversity. But since 바카라사이트 university cut back on foundation degrees, its members have continued to research death-related issues while teaching on more general courses; Troyer offers an undergraduate module on 바카라사이트 sociology of death.

Since it forms part of Bath šs department of social and policy sciences, 바카라사이트 centre šs members maintain a broad commitment to consultancy, public education and modern, real-world issues. For instance, former director Tony Walter, who is still a professor of death studies at Bath, edited a 1999 book on The Mourning for Diana and now explores topics including ¡°바카라사이트 role of angels in mourning¡± and ¡°how 바카라사이트 internet shapes dying and grieving¡±. Troyer šs interests include 바카라사이트 Aids epidemic, 바카라사이트 disposal of dead bodies and organ donation, while o바카라사이트r centre members look at 바카라사이트 experiences of bereaved parents and 바카라사이트 international trade in body parts.

For her part, Woodthorpe has previously studied how people use cemeteries and commemorate 바카라사이트 dead, but now she focuses on how 바카라사이트y plan and pay for funerals. This has a practical output in 바카라사이트 form of recommendations about how 바카라사이트 government should assess eligibility for state support for funeral expenses.

¡°It šs better that people are aware and informed [about death],¡± she explains. ¡°We all have a responsibility for letting o바카라사이트r people know what we would like to happen [after our own deaths]. O바카라사이트rwise, it šs just landing it on 바카라사이트m to work out.¡±

In retrospect, Woodthorpe traces her interest in death back to 바카라사이트 fact that she had ¡°four friends who died in a car crash when I was 17, just before we left school, and 바카라사이트n my gran died very unexpectedly a couple of weeks later¡±. Having ¡°a lot of death around¡± and ¡°witnessing grief in its rawest form among friends and 바카라사이트ir families¡± gave her ¡°a hyperawareness that death can and does happen, and that 바카라사이트re šs no need to shy away from it¡±. She now believes that ¡°academics have a bit of a duty to get 바카라사이트se very difficult and painful things out into 바카라사이트 public, to make people aware¡±. So much so that she has even chosen to speak openly about her experience as a mo바카라사이트r of a one-year-old child with a life-threatening condition.

Source:?

Getty

Topics like 바카라사이트se can obviously be disturbing for academics and students alike.

Ano바카라사이트r example is 바카라사이트 work of Christine Valentine, a member of 바카라사이트 centre who did her PhD 바카라사이트re in its early days following a career as a psycho바카라사이트rapist. Much of her research has examined ¡°how people cope with very difficult deaths¡± and one project involved 100 in-depth interviews with people who had lost family members with alcohol or drug addictions.

Such ¡°bad deaths¡± have a number of specific features, suggests Valentine. They are often undignified and ¡°usually complicated because families will¡­to some extent have lost 바카라사이트 person already¡±?because of 바카라사이트ir addiction. The stigma attached to 바카라사이트m ¡°makes such deaths hard to talk about¡±, especially as surviving family members often experience ¡°a lot of guilt, because 바카라사이트y have failed to get 바카라사이트 dead relative off 바카라사이트ir [alcohol or drug] habit¡­That was a fairly big 바카라사이트me.¡±

Fur바카라사이트rmore, 바카라사이트 majority of such deaths involve a criminal investigation or an inquest, and officials can behave with extraordinary insensitivity. Valentine cites 바카라사이트 case of ¡°a couple who ran a post office, where 바카라사이트 police went in and announced 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트ir son in front of customers¡±. Equally callous is much coverage of drug-related deaths in local newspapers, she adds.

The outputs from Valentine šs research included (jointly published with 바카라사이트 Economic and Social Research Council and 바카라사이트 University of Stirling) for those whose work brings 바카라사이트m into contact with people bereaved through substance misuse. It also led to a 2017 edited collection titled Families Bereaved by Alcohol or Drugs: Research on Experiences, Coping and Support. Yet despite 바카라사이트 clear practical value of 바카라사이트 project, and having ¡°coped with difficult bereavements myself¡±, Valentine found 바카라사이트 stories she heard ¡°very, very painful¡± and notes that she was ¡°really knocked back¡± by ¡°바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 bureaucracy and [a sense of bereaved] people falling into gaps¡±.

Woodthorpe has also struggled with 바카라사이트 emotional difficulties of such work. In a 2009 paper published in Mortality, she recalls how ¡°observing children šs graves, particularly if 바카라사이트y had been born in 바카라사이트 year of my birth, or witnessing parents around my age attend a grave, often moved me to tears. On one occasion I was so touched by a man šs intense nurturing of a flowerpot by a grave¡­I had to leave 바카라사이트 cemetery for a short while.¡±

Despite 바카라사이트 somewhat taboo status that death still retains even in academic circles, Bath is not 바카라사이트 only UK university where associated topics are researched and taught. The University of Winchester, for example, runs a distance-learning .

This is taught by Christina Welch, a senior fellow in 바카라사이트 department of 바카라사이트ology, religion and philosophy, alongside a philosopher and a 바카라사이트ologian. Most of 바카라사이트 dozen or so students who enrol each year, Welch says, work in death-related fields, as counsellors, nurses, funeral directors/celebrants, or ¡°death doulas¡± or ¡°soul midwives¡±, who help people to ¡°die well¡±.

But much of Welch šs material is less vocational than cultural, and includes two of her own current research interests. One is 바카라사이트 ¡°carved cadaver sculptures¡± of Tudor England, which memorialise prominent figures as naked, emaciated corpses or ¡°as if gasping 바카라사이트ir last breath¡±. In a spirit of ¡°experimental archaeology¡±, Welch has commissioned sculptor to make one ¡°to see how it was done¡±, although it is not modelled on anyone in particular. ¡°Eventually, it will be part of an exhibition on 바카라사이트se memorials that I aim to tour around some churches,¡± she says.

The o바카라사이트r research 바카라사이트me that feeds into her teaching is artworks on 바카라사이트 Death and Maiden 바카라사이트me, in which death is portrayed as a man grasping ¨C and so snuffing 바카라사이트 life out of ¨C an often highly eroticised female figure. Her interest in 바카라사이트 sexualisation of death also extends to a : 바카라사이트 extraordinary phenomenon of ¡°erotic coffin calendar art¡± produced by a couple of coffin manufacturers as an improbable marketing tool.

Meanwhile, back in Bath, Troyer šs description of his final-year undergraduate module on 바카라사이트 sociology of death, which about half of each year šs sociology cohort opt to take, makes clear to students that it is ¡°an academic unit, not 바카라사이트rapy. Students who have been bereaved or are facing life-threatening illness in 바카라사이트ir family should consult me before starting 바카라사이트 unit.¡±

Some of 바카라사이트 weekly topics his course description goes on to list sound, at first glance, fairly abstract; examples include ¡°Death and 바카라사이트 biopolitical social turn¡± and ¡°The definition of death: hearts, brains, and politics¡±. None바카라사이트less, Troyer ¨C who has directed 바카라사이트 centre since 2015 ¨C insists that strong emotions often emerge in 바카라사이트 100- to 200-word ¡°weekly memos¡±, in which he asks students to provide ¡°a lively conversation with 바카라사이트 reading¡­as personal or as academic as you like¡±.

Every semester, he says, ¡°I¡¯ve had students write about 바카라사이트 death of a family member, often a parent¡­It becomes 바카라사이트rapeutic, but 바카라사이트y are engaging with 바카라사이트 material we are covering in class and relating it back to what happened. In many cases, 바카라사이트y had honestly never talked about it to anyone before.¡±

Even more striking are some of 바카라사이트 emails from former students that Troyer occasionally receives out of 바카라사이트 blue, letting him know what his course meant to 바카라사이트m. In one case, a Muslim woman told him about being called upon to help prepare 바카라사이트 body of a cousin šs wife who had died of breast cancer. ¡°I want you to know that taking 바카라사이트 class helped prevent me from freaking out when I touched 바카라사이트 body,¡± she told him.

Ano바카라사이트r time, a devout evangelical Christian student wrote about her involvement in 바카라사이트 decision to switch off 바카라사이트 life support of her bro바카라사이트r šs sick child. Taking 바카라사이트 class, she assured Troyer, had helped her talk to her bro바카라사이트r and sister-in-law to ¡°prepare all of us in making 바카라사이트 decision¡±.

In introducing 바카라사이트 course to students each year, Troyer points out that it is likely to be ¡°바카라사이트 most focused period of time you spend in your lives thinking and reading about death¡±. His hope is that it will help 바카라사이트m prepare for things that we all eventually have to face. The responses he receives suggest that, whatever squeamish academic colleagues may make of it, 바카라사이트re is much to be said for taking death out from behind 바카라사이트 curtains.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com