Citation

Souza M. Death Stud. 2016; 41(1): 61-67.

Affiliation

SUNY/Empire State College , New York , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07481187.2016.1257888

PMID

27845617

Abstract

The literature on bereavement has been dominated by psychology (Bowlby, 1969; Freud, 1961 ; Parkes, 1972 ; Worden, 1991 ). Social Science (Hockey et al., 2001 ; Klass, Silverman, & Nickman, 1996; Valentine, 2008 ; Walter, 1999 ) has expanded that perspective by illustrating the ways in which the bereaved maintain continuing bonds with the deceased. In this article I build upon the social science literature from an anthropological perspective. I focus upon how the bereaved must learn to live in the social environment without the deceased in what I call a "new normal." The connections to their social environment have been altered as a link in those connections has been broken. The bereavement process requires repairing that rupture and developing a new way in which to adopt a new sense of self. This article mainly focuses on issues involved with the loss of a spouse.

Language: en