Grief Goods: Material Possessions and Meaning Reconstruction in Bereavement
The publishing industry has witnessed a burgeoning in “pathographies” or personal accounts of dying or bereavement. One particularly powerful account is Joan Didion’s best-selling book, The Year of Magical Thinking, which offers a detailed forensic introspection of her emotional and cognitive journey through the first year of widowhood. The title’s reference to “magical thinking” captures how bereaved people attempt to function in a distressing, disorienting microclimate and struggle to create a meaningful narrative of death and loss. In such circumstances, normal cognitive and emotional functioning becomes arduous and tentative if not almost impossible. Through a close reading of Didion’s narrative, we explore the symbiotic relationship between goods and grieving and how material possessions are marshalled in the service of meaning reconstruction (Neimeyer, 2001).
Citation:
Darach Turley and Stephanie O'Donohoe (2011) ,"Grief Goods: Material Possessions and Meaning Reconstruction in Bereavement", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 459.
Authors
Darach Turley, Dublin City University, Dublin 9,Ireland
Stephanie O'Donohoe, Un. of Edinburgh, Scotalnd
Volume
E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9 | 2011
Share Proceeding
Featured papers
See MoreFeatured
Immigration, Abortion, and Gay Marriage – Oh My!
TJ Weber, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Chris Hydock, Georgetown University, USA
Jeff Joireman, Washington State University, USA
David Sprott, Washington State University, USA
Featured
M5. The More Expensive a Gift Is, the More It Is Appreciated? The Effect of Gift Price on Recipients’ Appreciation
Jooyoung Park, Peking University
MENGSHU CHEN, Tencent Holdings Limited
Featured
B4. Prestige is the Truth: Luxury Branding Drives for Fairness Perception of Non-physical Attribute Based Dynamic Pricing
Edward Yuhang Lai, Virginia Tech, USA
Cindy Yoonjoung Heo, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne