Remembering, forgetting and (dis)enfranchised grief in everyday settings in English and Welsh towns: migrants’ and minorities’ translocal and local memories associated with funerary spaces and practices

Maddrell, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2941-498X, Beebeejaun, Y., McClymont, K., McNally, D. and Mathijssen, B. (2022) Remembering, forgetting and (dis)enfranchised grief in everyday settings in English and Welsh towns: migrants’ and minorities’ translocal and local memories associated with funerary spaces and practices. Emotion, Space and Society, 44. 100895. ISSN 1755-4586 doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2022.100895

Abstract/Summary

In this paper we explore migrants’ and minorities’ memories and memory-making associated with death, funerary and remembrance practices, with particular attention to how this intersects with experiences of migration and/or being part of a cultural or religious minority. The paper examines different spaces including bodies, homes, translocal networks, cemeteries and crematoria, centred on insights from focus groups, biographical and key participant interviews in four medium sized multicultural towns in England and Wales. These case studies afford an exploration of the complex and dynamic ‘ecologies’ of migrant and minority memories and sense of citizenship in relation to death, bereavement and remembrance spaces and practices. Participant accounts highlight memories of past practices, (post)colonial marginalisation, disenfranchisement, changes in practices, the strains of transnational grieving, pragmatic compromises and collaborating to improve funerary provision as endeavours of everyday citizenship. These are explored through two broad interlinked themes: firstly, translocal memories of past and evolving funerary and remembrance spaces, customs and practices; and secondly, relationality and autonomy through the choice of where to situate the dead, and implications for associated future memory-making.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/106460
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Uncontrolled Keywords	memory cemeteries crematoria heritage migrants minorities belonging
Publisher	Elsevier
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