- Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
- I am a family sociologist, with particular interests in inter-cultural dialogue (including work in China and in Seneg... moreI am a family sociologist, with particular interests in inter-cultural dialogue (including work in China and in Senegal), and in the notion of 'family troubles', including children's experiences of death.edit
While there is a significant interdisciplinary and international literature available on death, dying and bereavement, literature addressing responses to death is dominated by assumptions about individuality, framing ‘bereavement’ and... more
While there is a significant interdisciplinary and international literature available on death, dying and bereavement, literature addressing responses to death is dominated by assumptions about individuality, framing ‘bereavement’ and ‘grief’ in terms of the inner psychic life of the individual. Scholarly literature tells us little about how the continuing aftermath of death is experienced in the everyday, relational lives of the living. Inspired by research from Majority Worlds, we consider literature that might enable a more ‘relational’ sociological approach, and explore what that might involve. We set out the potential for family sociology to provide an intrinsically (if variable) relational lens on the aftermath of death, along with examples of radical relational theorising more generally. We argue for a reframing and broadening of the dominant ‘bereavement studies’ of Minority Worlds towards a much-needed paradigm shift in understanding the continuing aftermath of death in the...
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This study provides the first in-depth understanding of responses to death, care and family relations in an urban West African context. The loss of a close adult relative is a significant life transition that almost everyone experiences... more
This study provides the first in-depth understanding of responses to death, care and family relations in an urban West African context. The loss of a close adult relative is a significant life transition that almost everyone experiences at some point in the lifecourse and which may have a range of material, social and emotional consequences for children and families. The research aimed to investigate the material and emotional significance of a death of a close adult relative for family members of different genders and generations in urban Senegal. It aimed to explore how the death of a close relative impacts on identities, caring relations and responsibilities among families of varying socio-economic status and diverse ethnicities (focusing on the three largest ethnic groups, Wolof, Hal Pulaaren and Serer) in two cities.
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This study provides the first in-depth understanding of responses to death, care and family relations in an urban West African context. The loss of a close adult relative is a significant life transition that almost everyone experiences... more
This study provides the first in-depth understanding of responses to death, care and family relations in an urban West African context. The loss of a close adult relative is a significant life transition that almost everyone experiences at some point in the lifecourse and which may have a range of material, social and emotional consequences for children and families. The research aimed to investigate the material and emotional significance of a death of a close adult relative for family members of different genders and generations in urban Senegal. It aimed to explore how the death of a close relative impacts on identities, caring relations and responsibilities among families of varying socio-economic status and diverse ethnicities (focusing on the three largest ethnic groups, Wolof, Hal Pulaaren and Serer) in two cities.
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The concept of 'caringscapes' (McKie el al, 2002; Bowlby, 2012) is helpful in analysing time-space practices of informal care, including practical activities of caring as well as the feelings and subjective positions of different... more
The concept of 'caringscapes' (McKie el al, 2002; Bowlby, 2012) is helpful in analysing time-space practices of informal care, including practical activities of caring as well as the feelings and subjective positions of different actors involved in caring pathways across different temporal and spatial contexts. In this paper, we explore the caringscapes of family members who have experienced the death of a relative in urban Senegal from a gendered and intergenerational perspective. We draw on our initial analyses of in-depth interviews with two generations of family members (29 adults and 30 young people aged 12-30) living in two cities (Dakar and Kaolack) in Senegal, as part of a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Interviews were also conducted with 20 key informants, comprising local and religious leaders, government and NGO representatives, in addition to four focus groups with groups of women and young people in each urban location. We explore the ways that emotional, practical and material time-space practices of care that adults, young people and community members engage in following the death of a relative are embedded in gendered, inter- and intra-generational relations and provide some initial insights into religious, ethnic and place-based differences.Peer reviewe
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Despite calls for cross-cultural research, Minority world perspectives still dominate death and bereavement studies, emphasizing individualized emotions and neglecting contextual diversities. In research concerned with contemporary... more
Despite calls for cross-cultural research, Minority world perspectives still dominate death and bereavement studies, emphasizing individualized emotions and neglecting contextual diversities. In research concerned with contemporary African societies, on the other hand, death and loss are generally subsumed within concerns about AIDS or poverty, with little attention paid to the emotional and personal significance of a death. Here, we draw on interactionist sociology to present major themes from a qualitative study of family deaths in urban Senegal, theoretically framed through the duality of meanings-in-context. Such themes included family and community as support and motivation; religious beliefs and practices as frameworks for solace and (regulatory) meaning; and material circumstances as these are intrinsically bound up with emotions. Although we identify the experience of (embodied, emotional) pain as a common response across Minority and Majority worlds, we also explore signifi...
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This book focuses on family meanings through a range of different approaches, including readings by researchers in the field of family studies with explanations, activities and further questions provided to build on and link together what... more
This book focuses on family meanings through a range of different approaches, including readings by researchers in the field of family studies with explanations, activities and further questions provided to build on and link together what these writers have said.
We explore contested meanings around care and relationality through the under-explored case of caring after death, throwing the relational significance of ‘bodies’ into sharp relief. While the dominant social imaginary and forms of... more
We explore contested meanings around care and relationality through the under-explored case of caring after death, throwing the relational significance of ‘bodies’ into sharp relief. While the dominant social imaginary and forms of knowledge production in many affluent western societies take death to signify an absolute loss of the other in the demise of their physical body, important implications follow from recognising that embodied relational experience can continue after death. Drawing on a model of embodied relational care encompassing a ‘me’, a ‘you’ and an ‘us’, we argue that after death ‘me’ and ‘us’ remain (though changed) while crucial dimensions of ‘you’ persist too. In unravelling the binary divide between living and dead bodies, other related dichotomies of mind/body, self/other, internal/external, and nature/social are also called into question, extending debates concerning relationality and openness between living bodies. Through an exploration of autobiographical acc...
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Little empirical work has been conducted on geographies of loss in majority Muslim contexts to date. Based on qualitative research, this paper explores consolation and religious meaning-making after a family death in urban Senegal. We... more
Little empirical work has been conducted on geographies of loss in majority Muslim contexts to date. Based on qualitative research, this paper explores consolation and religious meaning-making after a family death in urban Senegal. We draw on in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of 59 family members in two cities, Dakar and Kaolack. Drawing on Klass' (2014) multi-faceted understanding of consolation and religious solace, we explore participants' narratives of the death of a relative, and discuss the role of co-presence and practices of remembrance in providing consolation. The frequent use of 'God's will' and other religious refrains and investing the moment of death with religious significance appeared to provide solace and help participants accept the death. The co-presence of family and community members was crucial in helping to share their pain and provide practical and material support that enabled family members to 'keep going' and 'get by...
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At this re-launch of the journal Bereavement, we explore the question, ‘Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies?’ We do not offer definitive answers, but rather seek to open up conversations. We briefly explore some of the main... more
At this re-launch of the journal Bereavement, we explore the question, ‘Do we need to decolonise bereavement studies?’ We do not offer definitive answers, but rather seek to open up conversations. We briefly explore some of the main debates and explanations of what ‘decolonising’ means. In its broader understandings, this entails questions about the nature of the knowledge that underpins claims to ‘expertise’, since knowledge inevitably reflects the socio-historic position and biography of those who produce it. This raises uncomfortable issues about the ‘universality’ of that knowledge, and how to understand what is shared between human beings, including how to understand experiences of pain and suffering. In addressing the nature of, ‘bereavement studies’, we first consider complexities of language and translation, before observing the heavy domination of the ‘psy’ disciplines in affluent minority worlds, oriented towards individualised, medicalised and interventionist perspectives...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Psychology, Youth Studies, Death, Case Studies, and 6 moreRisk, Social status, Coping, Peer Groups, Psychic, and Mainstream
David Morgan’s contributions to family sociology started from a direct engagement with theoretical perspectives, but his 1996 publication, Family Connections, took his family sociology in a new, somewhat ‘fuzzy’ direction. Two key motifs... more
David Morgan’s contributions to family sociology started from a direct engagement with theoretical perspectives, but his 1996 publication, Family Connections, took his family sociology in a new, somewhat ‘fuzzy’ direction. Two key motifs for his later work are the emphasis on ‘family’ as an adjective, and its fruitfulness when conjoined with the doing of ‘practices’. Yet his 1996 text also identified key theoretical themes he considered important for family sociology to retain. I trace some of the theoretical concerns that he carried forward in his later work, while drawing attention to some aspects that invite further development, including the significance of everyday family meanings, the challenge of considering ‘family practices’ beyond affluent Minority worlds, and the need to critique the ‘individual’ along with the ‘family’. I offer this discussion on the basis that family sociology is a central issue for sociology in general as a theoretical enterprise.
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ABSTRACT Legislative changes in recent years have emphasized the continuing tie with the biological parent after divorce. This paper consequently considers both legal and everyday discourses concerning the position of step-parents, with... more
ABSTRACT Legislative changes in recent years have emphasized the continuing tie with the biological parent after divorce. This paper consequently considers both legal and everyday discourses concerning the position of step-parents, with reference to any rights or responsibilities ...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Sexuality, Politics, Family, Medicine, and 9 moreHumans, British Sociology, Female, Male, Hq, Family Relations, Great Britain, Jc, and Personal autonomy
This article examines the notion of ‘family’ to consider how it may be understood in people's everyday lives. Certain recurrent and powerful motifs are apparent, notably themes of togetherness and belonging, in the context of a unit... more
This article examines the notion of ‘family’ to consider how it may be understood in people's everyday lives. Certain recurrent and powerful motifs are apparent, notably themes of togetherness and belonging, in the context of a unit that the person can be ‘part of’. At the same time, there may be important variations in the meanings given to individuality and family, evoking differing understandings of the self and personhood. I consider these ideas further through globally relevant but variable cultural themes of autonomy and relationality, suggesting the term ‘social person’ as a heuristic device to distinguish the sense of ‘close-knit selves’ that may be involved in some understandings of personhood. I argue that this version of personhood may be powerfully expressed through ‘family’ meanings, with a significance which can be at least provisionally mapped along lines of inequality and disadvantage within and between societies around the world. These forms of connectedness may...
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Flux is an essential characteristic of ‘family’ life. The inevitable passage of chronological time, characterized by constantly evolving circumstances and life experiences, mean that change and transition are major features of every... more
Flux is an essential characteristic of ‘family’ life. The inevitable passage of chronological time, characterized by constantly evolving circumstances and life experiences, mean that change and transition are major features of every individual’s life. But such themes are most commonly associated with ‘youth’ as a particular phase of life and studied within the context of the move from childhood to adulthood. Studies tend to focus exclusively on the young person’s experience of change, underestimating the significance of the embedded, relational nature of transitions to adulthood. Consideration of the young person’s social context in the form of ‘family’ relationships is generally confined to a psychological analysis of variables influencing developmental outcomes (Gillies et al. 1999). Yet, such a one-dimensional focus on young people as the sole object of change risks obscuring the important turning points and continuities experienced by other ‘family’ members, concurrent with the process of ‘growing up’.
Flux is an essential characteristic of ‘family’ life. The inevitable passage of chronological time, characterized by constantly evolving circumstances and life experiences, mean that change and transition are major features of every... more
Flux is an essential characteristic of ‘family’ life. The inevitable passage of chronological time, characterized by constantly evolving circumstances and life experiences, mean that change and transition are major features of every individual’s life. But such themes are most commonly associated with ‘youth’ as a particular phase of life and studied within the context of the move from childhood to adulthood. Studies tend to focus exclusively on the young person’s experience of change, underestimating the significance of the embedded, relational nature of transitions to adulthood. Consideration of the young person’s social context in the form of ‘family’ relationships is generally confined to a psychological analysis of variables influencing developmental outcomes (Gillies et al. 1999). Yet, such a one-dimensional focus on young people as the sole object of change risks obscuring the important turning points and continuities experienced by other ‘family’ members, concurrent with the process of ‘growing up’.
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The use of interviews from related individuals has become increasingly common in social research. This is particularly apparent in the area of family sociology, which has previously been criticized for relying on research of family lives... more
The use of interviews from related individuals has become increasingly common in social research. This is particularly apparent in the area of family sociology, which has previously been criticized for relying on research of family lives based solely on interviews with mothers. Obtaining such accounts can raise postmodern ontological and epistemological themes of multiple perspectives and multiple realities, but there
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In this study 'ordinary' young people (aged between 16 and 18) and their parents talk about their lives on their own terms. In-depth interviews explore issues of independence and relatedness, understandings of parental support... more
In this study 'ordinary' young people (aged between 16 and 18) and their parents talk about their lives on their own terms. In-depth interviews explore issues of independence and relatedness, understandings of parental support and the meaning of 'family'. They reveal ...
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This article draws on multidisciplinary perspectives to consider the need and the possibilities for inter-cultural dialogue concerning families that may be seen by some to be ‘troubling’. Starting from the premise that ‘troubles’ are a... more
This article draws on multidisciplinary perspectives to consider the need and the possibilities for inter-cultural dialogue concerning families that may be seen by some to be ‘troubling’. Starting from the premise that ‘troubles’ are a ‘normal’ part of children’s family lives, we consider the boundary between ‘normal’ troubles and troubles that are troubling (whether to family members or others). Such troubling families potentially indicate an intervention to prevent harm to less powerful family members (notably children). On what basis can such decisions be made in children’s family lives, how can this question be answered across diverse cultural contexts, and are all answers inevitably subject to uncertainty? Such questions arguably reframe and broaden existing debates about ‘child maltreatment’ across diverse cultural contexts. Beyond recognizing power dynamics, material inequalities, and historical and contemporary colonialism, we argue that attempts to answer the question on an...
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The use of interviews from related individuals has become increasingly common in social research. This is particularly apparent in the area of family sociology, which has previously been criticized for relying on research of family lives... more
The use of interviews from related individuals has become increasingly common in social research. This is particularly apparent in the area of family sociology, which has previously been criticized for relying on research of family lives based solely on interviews with mothers. Obtaining such accounts can raise postmodern ontological and epistemological themes of multiple perspectives and multiple realities, but there
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Step-fathering is becoming increasingly common in contemporary western societies, yet it has received little research attention from either social policy or sociological perspectives. In this article, we draw on our empirical studies of... more
Step-fathering is becoming increasingly common in contemporary western societies, yet it has received little research attention from either social policy or sociological perspectives. In this article, we draw on our empirical studies of step-families in Britain and Sweden to argue ...
