Citation

McManus R, Walter T, Claridge L. Death Stud. 2018; 42(7): 405-414.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology and Anthropology , College of Arts, University of Canterbury , Christchurch , Christchurch , New Zealand.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07481187.2017.1366599

PMID

28816633

Abstract

The article asks whether disasters that destroy life but leave the material infrastructure relatively intact tend to prompt communal coping focussing on loss, while disasters that destroy significant material infrastructure tend to prompt coping through restoration / re-building. After comparing memorials to New Zealand's Christchurch earthquake and Pike River mine disasters, we outline circumstances in which collective restorative endeavour may be grassroots, organised from above, or manipulated, along with limits to effective restoration. We conclude that bereavement literature may need to take restoration more seriously, while disaster literature may need to take loss more seriously.

Language: en

Keywords

communal loss; communitas; earthquake; grief; volunteers