Bibliography 2: #BIB39559

Key	BIB39559
Reference type	Book
Title	Shattered Grief : How the Pandemic Transformed the Spirituality of Death in America
Author	Mikles, Natasha L.
Year	2024
Publisher	Columbia University Press
Place published	New York
ISBN	9780231211468 9780231211475
Abstract	"Based on extensive interviews conducted between January and September 2021 with fifty individuals of diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds and virtual participant observation of related digital spaces, this book provides a snapshot of how the pandemic changed the way we do death in America. It has disrupted entirely the "liturgy of death" that most Americans have come to experience as the norm. As a result, there have been dramatic transformations not only in religious rituals, identities, and communities but also in how individuals make meaning following the death of their loved ones. The book offers a portrait of these transformations by drawing on the stories of grieving family members, religious leaders, medical professionals, grief counselors, and funerary professionals. Interviewees include representatives of a variety of traditions beyond mainline Christianity-including Sikhism, Islam, LDS, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Baha'i, and various forms of alternative spirituality like spirit mediumship and paganism. In addition to religious diversity, Shattered Grief also highlights racial and ethnic diversity, as nearly 40 percent of the interview subjects are people of color, including Native Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian participants. While the interview selections relate individuals' first-hand experiences with confronting death, Natasha Mikles contextualizes their stories and reveals common themes in their experiences of narrative, community, ritual, and trauma. The pandemic made it possible to observe how diverse religious communities responded to an unprecedented situation. As such, the experiences of the interview subjects are ideal case studies for exploring such questions as the nature and function of ritual, how religious communities either thrive or become enervated under stress, and how grieving people interpret the problem of evil. Centering theoretical questions around the voices of those confronting death makes them starkly relevant. As a result, this is not a book that simply details stories of Americans finding solace in their religious communities and belief in seeing their loved ones again. Some people took great comfort in their faith, but some people left their churches entirely, questioned the leadership of priests and pastors, or explored alternative forms of spirituality unthinkable to them before the pandemic. The pandemic's confusion became the fertile ground out of which new and permanent spiritual traditions and rituals emerged"--
Notes	LCCN 2023055034. Includes bibliographical references and index. Ritual -- Community -- Narrative -- Trauma -- Conclusion: Taking the Book of Job seriously.
Language	English
Keywords	DEATH; COVID-19; PANDEMIC; GRIEF; FUNERAL
Call number	BT162.D57 M55 2024
Accession number	23423589

summary view details

browse all, summary view browse all, detailed view