scholarly journals Ars moriendi as social reality : articulation of the good death in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Douglas Valentine
Keyword(s):  
Death And Dying ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Death Process ◽  
Ritual Studies ◽  
Psychological Healing ◽  
Ars Moriendi ◽  
Responding To Change

Death and dying are often theorized as micro-level processes, focusing on the experience of the death process from the perspective of the dying, or in the context of grief and psychological healing on the part of the bereaved. While these academic analyses have merit, their analytic utility is limited. Death, dying, bereavement, and memorial are social processes that require multidisciplinary investigation. Utilizing sociological, religious studies, and ritual studies methodologies, this dissertation explores ars moriendi, or the good death, as a process enmeshed within the macro-structural forces of political, religious, economic, and social institutions. Through these discrete case studies, the dying and the bereaved are recentered as active agents driving and responding to change within the contemporary American death industry.

Advance care tweeting: A mixed-methods analysis of online conversations surrounding National Healthcare Decisions Day hashtags on Twitter (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahleen A. Lattimer ◽  
Kelly E. Tenzek ◽  
Yotam Ophir ◽  
Suzanne S. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
National Healthcare ◽  
Advance Care Directives ◽  
Advance Care

BACKGROUND Within most Western societies, topics related to death and dying continue to be taboo, and opportunities for presence and engagement during end-of-life that could lead to a good death are avoided as a result. Several efforts have been made to help people engage in advance care planning (ACP) conversations, including completing advance care directives, so they may express their goals-of-care if they become too sick to communicate their wishes. One major effort in the United States towards encouraging such challenging discussions is the annual celebration of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). OBJECTIVE The present study explored ACP from a socio-cultural perspective, using Twitter as a communication tool. METHODS All publicly available tweets published between August 1st 2020 and July 30th 2021 (N = 9,713) were collected and analyzed using the computational, mixed-method Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) approach. RESULTS Results revealed conversations, driven primarily by laypersons (96% of tweets originated from unverified accounts) surrounded three major themes: importance and promotion, surrounding language, and finally, systemic issues. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, we argue there is a need for awareness of what barriers people may face in engaging in ACP conversations, including systemic barriers, literacy levels, misinformation, policies, including Medicare reimbursements, and trust among health care professionals. This is incredibly important for clinicians and scholars to be aware of as we strive to re-envision ACP so that people are more comfortable engaging in ACP conversations. In terms of content of Tweets, we argue there is a chasm between the biomedical and biopsychosocial elements of ACP, including patient narratives. If used properly, Twitter conversations and NHDD hashtags could be harnessed to serve as a connecting point between organizations, physicians, patients and family members, to lay the groundwork for the trajectory towards a good death.

J.C. Ameisen, D. Hervieu-Léger, and E. Hirsh (Eds.). Qu'est-ce que mourir?Paris: Le Pommier/Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, 2003.

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-317
Author(s):  
Luce Des Aulniers
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Art History ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Clinical Death ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Cultural Norm ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

ABSTRACTResearchers in the fields of biology, religious studies, history, medical ethics, philosophy, and sociology offer a popularized interpretation of “what is death and dying.” This book is divided into three sections, each beginning with a relevant discussion on the contexts of the issue of death and dying. The work proposes three insights into the subject. First, the image of “the dead and the living,” as presented in art history, is revisited through the genetics and biology discourses that have recently challenged the traditional concepts of aging, as well as the very definition of “clinical” death. Second, the “experience of death” is based on new ideologies that reassess the solitude and individualistic nature of the dying and the necessity of reestablishing the links between the dying and the living, as reiterating the cultural norm. Finally, the “good death” establishes a virtual breach between two types of mythical figures – the heroes and the saints – and the relational singularity of palliative care.

Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Roy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Religious Congregations ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Second Intifada

Many in the United States and Israel believe that Hamas is nothing but a terrorist organization, and that its social sector serves merely to recruit new supporters for its violent agenda. Based on extensive fieldwork in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the critical period of the Oslo peace process, this book shows how the social service activities sponsored by the Islamist group emphasized not political violence but rather community development and civic restoration. The book demonstrates how Islamic social institutions in Gaza and the West Bank advocated a moderate approach to change that valued order and stability, not disorder and instability; were less dogmatically Islamic than is often assumed; and served people who had a range of political outlooks and no history of acting collectively in support of radical Islam. These institutions attempted to create civic communities, not religious congregations. They reflected a deep commitment to stimulate a social, cultural, and moral renewal of the Muslim community, one couched not only—or even primarily—in religious terms. Vividly illustrating Hamas's unrecognized potential for moderation, accommodation, and change, the book also traces critical developments in Hamas' social and political sectors through the Second Intifada to today, and offers an assessment of the current, more adverse situation in the occupied territories. The Oslo period held great promise that has since been squandered. This book argues for more enlightened policies by the United States and Israel, ones that reflect Hamas' proven record of nonviolent community building. A new afterword discusses how Hamas has been affected by changing regional dynamics and by recent economic and political events in Gaza, including failed attempts at reconciliation with Fatah.

People and Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Community Inclusion ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
Political Challenge

Climate change is a profoundly social and political challenge with many social justice concerns around every corner. A global issue, climate change threatens the well-being, livelihood, and survival of people in communities worldwide. Often, those who have contributed least to climate change are the most likely to suffer from its negative consequences and are often excluded from the policy discussions and decisions that affect their lives. This book pays particular attention to the social dimensions of climate change. It examines closely people’s lived experience, climate-related injustice and inequity, why some groups are more vulnerable than others, and what can be done about it—especially through greater community inclusion in policy change. A highlight of the book is its diversity of rich, community-based examples from throughout the Global South and North. Sacrificial flood zones in urban Argentina, forced relocation of United Houma tribal members in the United States, and gendered water insecurities in Bangladesh and Australia are just some of the in-depth cases included in the book. Throughout, the book asks social and political questions about climate change. Of key importance, it asks what can be done about the unequal consequences of climate change by questioning and transforming social institutions and arrangements—guided by values that prioritize the experience of affected groups and the inclusion of diverse voices and communities in the policy process.

African and Black Diaspora as Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horace R. Hall
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Involuntary Movement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Black Diaspora ◽  
African Black ◽  
Racist Ideology ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Colonial Oppression

The African diaspora, also referred to as the African Black diaspora, is the voluntary and involuntary movement of Africans and their descendants to various parts of the world. Even though voluntary widespread African diasporas occurred during precolonizing periods, the Arabic slave trade (7th to 18th centuries) and the transatlantic slave trade (16th to 19th centuries) are largely recognized as phases of involuntary movement with an estimated combined 30 million Africans dispersed across the African continent and globally. Today, the largest populations of people descended from Africans forcibly removed from Africa reside in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States, with millions more in other countries. Such vast movement of a people across time and space has meant that those who are part of the African diaspora have suffered similar problems and disadvantages. The legacy of slavery, especially in relation to racism and colonialism, has garnered attention across the scholarly disciplines of history, ethnic, cultural, and religious studies. Likewise, African and Black diasporan responses to colonial oppression have manifested in multiple curricula in literature, music, philosophy, politics, civilization, customs, and so forth, designed for and by African diasporans in their efforts to unite all people of African descent, building on their cultural identity and resisting racist ideology and colonial rule.

Leading Works in Religion and Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Jacob Barrett
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Editorial Assistant ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Contemporary Issue ◽  
Religion And Law ◽  
Model Set ◽  
The One

“The Experiment” presents scholars of religion with an opportunity to draw upon their training to reflect upon a contemporary issue. Editorial assistant Jacob Barrett engages with a recent edited volume from Routledge titled Leading Works in Law and Religion that, while focusing on the identity of the subfield of law and religion within the discipline of legal studies in the United Kingdom and Ireland, provides many sites for comparison with the religion and law subfield of religious studies in the United States context. Drawing upon the model set by the volume, Barrett imagines what a volume titled Leading Works in Religion and Law could look like and what the subfield of religion and law stands to gain from engaging in a project like the one done by its law and religion counterpart.

scholarly journals Making Up Excited Delirium

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seantel Ara Blythe Anaïs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Medical Condition ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Ontology ◽  
Excited Delirium ◽  
Category Formation ◽  
Conceptual Language

This article examines the emergence of a medical condition increasingly cited as a cause of death in fatality inquiries in Canada: Excited Delirium. Beyond the association between excited delirium and police use of electrical weapons known as Tasers, one common concern about the medical condition is whether or not it is “real.” Bypassing strictly realist or purely constructivist accounts, this article uses the conceptual language of historical ontology and science and technology studies to investigate how excited delirium is enacted within and between disparate medico-legal sites. Contributing to sociologies of death and dying and category formation, it attends to the textually-mediated practices of legal and medical experts in the United States and Canada that labour to produce excited delirium as a coherent medical condition rather than a “diagnosis of exclusion” reached upon autopsy.

scholarly journals “Nobody gets out alive. This place just a big coffin”: On Death and Dying in American Prisons

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-83
Author(s):  
Raluca Andreescu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
The United States ◽  
Correctional Facilities ◽  
Joyce Carol Oates ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Social Death ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Civil Death

Abstract This article explores the manner in which the narratives in the Prison Noir volume (2014) edited by Joyce Carol Oates bring into view the limits and abusive practices of the American criminal justice system within the confines of one of its most secretive sites, the prison. Taking an insider’s perspective - all stories are written by award-winning former or current prisoners - the volume creates room for the usually silent voices of those incarcerated in correctional facilities throughout the United States. The article engages the effects of “prisonization” and the subsequent mortification of inmates by focusing on images of death and dying in American prisons, whether understood as a ‘social death,’ the isolation from any meaningful intercourse with society, as a ‘civil death,’ the stripping away of citizenship rights and legal protections, or as the physical termination of life as a result of illness, murder, suicide or statesponsored execution.

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