Continuing bonds and place

Death Stud. 2017 Aug;41(7):406-415. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2017.1286412. Epub 2017 Jan 31.

Abstract

Where do people feel closest to those they have lost? This article explores how continuing bonds with a deceased person can be rooted in a particular place or places. Some conceptual resources are sketched, namely continuing bonds, place attachment, ancestral places, home, reminder theory, and loss of place. The authors use these concepts to analyze interview material with seven Swedes and five Britons who often thought warmly of the deceased as residing in a particular place and often performing characteristic actions. The destruction of such a place, by contrast, could create a troubling, haunting absence, complicating the deceased's absent-presence.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Death*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Object Attachment*
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom