Abstract
Death and dying are respectable normative components of the human and living condition. Regardless of how the dying is accomplished, those who are mourners bear a significant burden of the loss, contingent on several variables, but especially the level of attachment to the deceased. This loss is accommodated or exacerbated depending on culture, social location, and degree of importance accorded to the bereavement. In the case of Diasporic Nigerians all over the world, the bereavement process is a long and arduous one due to their social location outside of their cultural home. Using bereavement theory, this phenomenological and ethnographic study attempts to elicit an understanding of how Nigerians in the Diaspora experience bereavement loss when it happens in the Diaspora but especially in their far away homeland. The study found that Diasporic Nigerians experience bereavement loss differently from those of their host countries. Poignantly, such bereavement loss produce significant stressors than those from mainstream host countries, contingent on social location, absence of culturally relevant mourning rituals, distance to cultural homeland, consanguinal ties, cultural expectations, and financial burden for completing rituals and rites of passages. The study has cultural competency implications and applications for exploring nonlinear ways of revisiting and understanding Diasporic bereavement loss, and the deployment of culturally sensitive and relevant social work practices and interventions with such minority populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agar, M. H. (1996). The professional stranger: an informal introduction to ethnography (2nd ed.). San Diego: Academic.
Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA). (1987). Ethical guidelines for good practice. London: Association of Social Anthropologists.
Babbie, E. (1989, 1999, 2004). The Practice of social research. (5thEd.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Becvar, D. S. (2001). In the presence of grief: helping family members resolve death, dying and bereavement issues. New York: Guildford Press.
Beins, B. C. (2004). Research methods: a tool for life. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
Cowles, K. V. (1996). Cultural perspectives of grief: an expanded concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 23(2), 287–294.
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five traditions. London: Sage Publications.
Davies, C. A. (1999). Reflexive ethnography: a guide to researching selves and others. London: Routledge.
Dobbert, M. L. (1982). Ethnographic research: theory and application for modern schools and societies. New York: Praeger.
Falola, T. (1999). The history of Nigeria. The Greenwood Histories of the modern nations. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Freud, S. (1957). Mourning and melancholia. In T. Standard (Ed.), Edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 243–258). London: Hogarth Press.
Freud, S. (1961). Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York: Basic Books.
Gilanshah, F. (1993). Islamic customs regarding death. In D. P. Irish, K. F. Lunquist, & V. J. Nelsen (Eds.), Ethnic variations in dying, death and grief: diversity in universality (pp. 137–145). Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
Glaser, B. G. (1998). Doing grounded theory: issues and discussions. Mill Valley: Sociology Press.
Hammersley, M. (2000). Taking sides in social research: essays on partisanship and bias. London; New York: Routledge.
Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography: principles in practice (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Harvey, J. H. (2000). Give sorrow words: perspectives on loss and trauma. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis.
Hogan, N. S., & DeSantis, L. D. (1996). Adolescent sibling bereavement: toward a new theory. In C. Corr & D. B. Balk (Eds.), Helping adolescents cope with death and bereavement (pp. 173–195). Philadelphia: Springer.
Hooyman, N. R., & Kramer, B. J. (2006). Living through loss: interventions across the life span. New York: Columbia University Press.
Irish, D. P., Lundquist, K. W., & Nelsen, V. J. (1993). Ethnic variations in dying, death and grief: diversity in universality. Washington, DC.: Taylor and Francis.
Jeffreys, J. S. (2005). Helping grieving people when tears are not enough: a handbook for care providers. New York and Hove: Brunner-Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Kagawa-Singer, M. (1998). The cultural context of death rituals and mourning practices. Oncology Nursing Forum, 2510, 1752–1755.
Kamel, H., Mouton, C., & McKee, D. (2002). Culture and Loss. In K. J. Doka (Ed.), Living with grief: loss in later life (pp. 289–294). Washington, DC: Hospice Foundation of America.
Khaleel, I. (1996). The Hausa. In M. U. Okehie-Offoha & M. N. Sadiku (Eds.), Ethnic and cultural diversity in Nigeria (pp. 37–62). Toronto: Africa World Press, Inc.
Klapper, J., Moss, S. Z., Moss, M. S., & Rubinstein, R. L. (1994). The social context of grief among adult daughters who have lost a parent. Journal of Aging Studies, 8, 29–43.
Klass, D. (1996). The deceased child in the psychic and social worlds of bereaved parents during the resolution of grief. In D. Klass, R. Silverman, & S. Nickman (Eds.), Continuing bonds: new understanding of grief. Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
Lewis, M. P., Robinson, P. T., & Rubin, B. R. (1998). Stabilizing Nigeria: sanctions, incentives, and support for civil society. Sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and The Century Foundation. New York: The Century Foundation Press.
Lipson, J. G., Dibble, S. L., & Minarik, P. A. (1996). Culture and nursing care. San Francisco: UCSF Nursing Press.
Lund, D. A. (1999). Giving and receiving help during late life spousal bereavement. In J. D. Davidson & K. J. Doka (Eds.), Living with grief: at work, at school, at worship (pp. 203–212). Washington, D.C.: Hospice Foundation of America.
Lutovich, D. S. (2002). Nobody’s child: how older women say good-bye to their mothers. Amityville: Baywood.
Moller, D. W. (1996). Confronting death: values, institutions, and human mortality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Moss, M. S., & Moss, S. Z. (1983, 1984). The impact of parental death on middle-aged children. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 14, 65–75.
Moss, M. S., & Moss, S. Z. (1989). The death of a parent. In R. A. Kalish (Ed.), Midlife loss (pp. 89–114). Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Moss, M., Moss, S. Z., Rubinstein, R., & Resch, N. (1992). The impact of elderly mother’s death on middle aged daughters. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 37, 1–22.
Moss, M. S., Resch, N., & Moss, S. Z. (1997). The role of gender in middle-age children’s responses to parent death. Omega, 35, 43–65.
Moss, M. S., Moss, S. Z., & Hansson, R. O. (2001). Bereavement and old age. In M. S. Stroebe, R. O. Hansson, W. Stroebe, & H. Schut (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research: consequences, coping and care (pp. 241–260). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Nwoye, A. (2005). Memory healing process and community intervention in grief work in Africa. ANZJFT, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 26(3), 147–154.
Okehie-Offoha, M. U. (1996). Introduction. In M. U. Okehie-Offoha & M. N. Sadiku (Eds.), Ethnic and cultural diversity in Nigeria (pp. 1–7). Toronto: Africa World Press, Inc.
Orozco, Manuel (2006). “West African financial flows and opportunities for people and small businesses.” Report prepared for the United States Agency for International Development.
Parkes, C. M. (1996). Bereavement: studies in grief in adult life. London: Routledge.
Parkes, C. M. (2001). A historical overview of the scientific study of bereavement. In M. S. Stroebe, R. O. Hansson, W. Stroebe, & H. Schut (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research: consequences, coping, and care (pp. 25–46). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Raphael, B., & Nunn, K. (1988). Counseling the bereaved. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 191–206.
Riches, G., & Dawson, P. (2000). Daughters’ dilemmas: grief resolution in girls whose widowed fathers remarry. Journal of Family Therapy, 22(4), 360–374.
Rosenblatt, P. C. (1993). Cross-cultural variation in the experience, expression and understanding of grief. In D. P. Irish, K. F. Lundquist, & V. J. Nelson (Eds.), Ethnic variations in dying, death and grief (pp. 13–20). Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis.
Rosenblatt, P. C. (2001). A social constructionist perspective on cultural differences in grief. In M. S. Stroebe, O. R. Hanson, W. Stroebe, & H. Schutt (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research: consequences, coping and care. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rosenblatt, P. C., Walsh, R. P., & Jackson, D. A. (1976). Grief and mourning in cross-cultural perspective. Washington, D.C.: HRAF Press.
Sanders, S., & Corley, C. S. (2003). Are they grieving? A qualitative analysis examining grief in caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Health and Social Work, 37, 37–53.
Schensul, S. L., Schensul, J. J., & LeCompte, M. D. (1999). Essential ethnographic methods: observations, interviews, and questionnaires: ethnographer’s toolkit. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Shapiro, E. R. (1994). Grief as a family process: a developmental approach to clinical practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Smith, S. H. (1998). African American daughters and elderly mothers. New York: Garland.
Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Toronto: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston.
Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation. Montreal: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston.
Sutcliffe, P., Tufnell, G., & Cornish, U. (Eds.). (1998). Working with the dying and the bereaved: systemic approaches to therapeutic work. London: Macmillan.
Swift, P. (1989). Support for the dying and bereaved in Zimbabwe: traditional and new approaches. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 4(1), 25–45.
Torczyner, J.L. (1997). Diversity, mobility and change: the dynamics of Black communities in Canada. Canadian Black Communities Demographic Project. Preliminary Findings. Montreal, Quebec: McGill University, McGill Consortium for Ethnicity & Strategic Social Planning.
Umoren, J. A. (1996). Democracy and ethnic diversity in Nigeria. New York: University Press of America, Inc.
Walter, T. (1996). A model of grief: bereavement and biography. Mortality, 1, 7–27.
Wright, C. (2003). Saving the differences: essays on themes from truth and objectivity. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Younoszai, B. (1993). Mexican American perspectives related to death. In D. P. Irish, K. F. Lundquist, & V. J. Nelsen (Eds.), Ethnic variations in dying, death, and grief (pp. 67–77). Bristol: Taylor & Francis.
Zisook, & Schucter. (1986). The first four years of widowhood. Psychiatric Annals, 15, 288–294.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ogbuagu, B.C. We who are Strangers: Insights into how Diasporic Nigerians Experience Bereavement Loss. J Afr Am St 16, 300–320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-011-9187-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-011-9187-9