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Book

Black grief and healing : why we need to talk about health inequality, trauma and loss

Call Number

  • 305.896 B62745 (CEN, POW)

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Publication Information

London : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2024.

Physical Description

250 pages : illustration ; 23 cm

Summary

"'When Black people mourn, it is not only for the passing of loved ones. As a community, Black people will also be mourning the systemic inequalities, racial prejudices and oppressions we experience daily.' The stories and poems in this anthology illuminate the unique ways loss affects the Black community, and the effects of the widespread lack of understanding of traditional rituals and beliefs. They show us how experiences of collective loss during the pandemic, the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire and ongoing systemic health inequalities are experienced not just as individuals but also as part of a global community. Contributors from a range of backgrounds, professions, and identities discuss the challenges of grieving under the shadow of continuing adversity, including threats of deportation. Sources of strength and healing are also explored, from personal and spiritual responses to community initiatives and activism. Poignant and inspiring, these are stories we all need to read, and provide us with insights into lives and losses which are all too often misunderstood and sidelined"--

Contents

  • Foreword / Introduction / Far-off farewells / That glorious day / Leave me grief / Peeping through the veil of grief / Open wounds: vicarious grieving while bereaved / Sadness: Losing a daughter / A multitude of grief: Willelmina's story / Edna 'Queenie' Patterson / My Jamaican experiences of death / Living in the liminal realm: Eulogica / Grief: Personal stories from a Black Turkish Cypriot / Death across cultures: a personal reflection / Shed a tear / Black queer grief / Widowed and young: condolences, rallying and drying out / Together in love, life, and in death / The rolling waves of Black grief / Death, grief, loss and bereavement during Covid-19 / Miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss / Remember me / Suicide in the shadows of Grenfell / The artist in Grenfell / Back to the Black / Black don't crack or does it: the home office scandal / Memory / When do we grieve? / Not all grief is the same: a funeral celebrants's perspective / Community goodwill in times of grief: #UGiveHope / Coming together in hope: a service of reflection / Hope renewed / Useful organisations and resources.

Subjects