A prática do desaparecimento forçado foi adotada de forma sistemática e generalizada pelo Estado brasileiro durante a ditadura civil-militar (1964-1985) contra os opositores políticos do regime. Tal política consistiu na detenção ilegal, seguida da execução e da ocultação dos corpos. Em busca de noticias sobre seus entes, os familiares de desaparecidos políticos passaram a se organizar em associações, reivindicando o esclarecimento das circunstancias da morte, a localização e identificação os corpos e o julgamento dos agentes responsáveis. Passados mais de 40 anos, os corpos permanecem insepultos e sem identificação. A situação dos desaparecidos parece sempre retornar, mas sem se resolver completamente. Os marcos principais de discussões públicas acerca do tema foram a Lei de Anistia (1979), a abertura da Vala de Perus (1990), a promulgação da Lei dos Mortos e Desaparecidos (1995) e, mais recentemente, a instalação da Comissão Nacional da Verdade (2012). Portanto, as motivações da dissertação foram compreender como a busca pelo esclarecimento das mortes, o reconhecimento dos corpos e o julgamento dos acusados se articulam com a elaboração do luto dos familiares de desaparecidos políticos. A partir daí, abordo as características assumidas pelo luto de uma morte inacabada, sem materialidade e como os familiares mobilizam e transmitem a memória de seus entes, subvertendo o terror e o silêncio que lhes impuseram o Estado. Exploro assim como a continuidade da prática de desaparecimento forçado levados a cabo por agentes policiais-militares conecta passado e presente em um continuum de violações de direitos humanos, fazendo os interlocutores deste trabalho questionar sobre a efetividade da democracia nacional. / The practice of enforced disappearance was adopted by the Brazilian state against political opponents of the regime during the civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985) in a systematic and widespread way. This policy consisted of illegal detention, followed by execution and the concealment of the bodies. In search of news about the disappeared, relatives began to organize into associations, in order to demand the clarification of the circumstances around the deaths (locations and identifications of bodies) and the prosecution of those agents responsible. After more than 40 years, bodies remain unburied and unidentified. The issue of the disappeared always seems return, but never completely solved. The principal milestones of public discussions about this theme were the Law of Amnesty (Lei de Anistia - 1979), the opening of the Vala de Perus (a clandestine ditch were several unidentified bodies were found) (1990), the enactment of the Law of the Dead and Missing (Lei dos Mortos e Desaparecidos - 1995) and, more recently, the installation of the National Commission of Truth (Comissão Nacional da Verdade 2012). Therefore, the motivation of the thesis was to understand how the search for clarification around the circumstances of the deaths, the identification of the bodies and the trials of the accused are linked with the families of the disappeareds elaboration of mourning. From there, I discuss the characteristics assumed by the mourning of an unfinished death, a death without materiality, and how families mobilize and transmit the memory of their beloved, subverting the terror and the silence imposed on them by the State. Finally, I explore how the continuity of the practice of enforced disappearance still carried out by police and military agents today connects past and present in a continuum of human rights violations, inviting the reader of this study to question the effectiveness of the Brazilian democracy.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is a result of an ethnography research that was done during the period of 8 months following the different collective strategies of the Kiss disco victims families organization, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. After the fire in the disco that took to death 242 young people with ages between 18 and 36 years old, the families started to meet in different initiatives aiming the social work, the fight for justice and a space to join the families and the survivors of the victims. From these attempts it was created an ONG, a Family Association and two social Movements which were studied by participant observation and open semistructured interviews. The observation identified the presence of a support net among the families of 12 victims that interact in these different groups, forming two subnets: of justice and solidarity, whose link has relative aspects to spiritual questions. The access to these support nets occurred by a key informant, militant and idealizer of two of the studied movements and sustainer of the others. Starting from a theoretical analysis of the Anthropology of Emotions, studying the nets of support, the research focus on the mourning, the different ways to deal with the loss and the spirituality. Therefore, it is broach the symbolical attempts of explaining the tragedy and the death through the formulation of presage of death, signs of the presence after the tragedy and strategies of communication with the children by religiosity, dreams and everyday coincidence. The title of this study is a word of order tuning by the families in their protests aiming justice which culminate in the creation of support nets. / Este trabalho é resultado de um estudo etnográfico realizado durante o período de oito meses de campo de acompanhamento das distintas estratégias coletivas de organização dos familiares das vítimas da boate Kiss, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Após o incêndio na boate que levou a morte de 242 jovens com idades entre 18 e 36 anos, os familiares passaram a se reunir em diferentes iniciativas visando o trabalho social, a luta por justiça e um espaço para reunir os familiares e sobreviventes das vítimas. A partir dessas tentativas surgiram uma ONG, uma Associação de familiares e dois Movimentos sociais que foram estudados através da observação participante e entrevistas abertas semi estruturadas. A observação identificou a formação de uma rede de apoio entre familiares de 12 vítimas que interagem nestes diferentes grupos, formando duas sub-redes: de justiça e de solidariedade, cujo elo, tem aspectos relativos à questões de espiritualidade. O acesso a essas redes de apoio ocorreu através de uma informante chave, militante e idealizadora de dois dos movimentos estudados e apoiadora dos demais. Partindo de uma análise teórica da antropologia das emoções, ao estudar a redes de apoio, a pesquisa destaca o luto, as diferentes formas de lidar com a perda e a espiritualidade. Assim, são abordadas as tentativas simbólicas de explicar a tragédia e a morte através da formulação de presságios de morte, sinais da presença pós tragédia e estratégias de comunicação com os filhos através da religiosidade, sonhos e coincidências do cotidiano. O título deste trabalho é uma palavra de ordem entoada pelos familiares em seus protestos visando justiça que culminou com a formação da redes de apoio.

The goal of the study was to explore the needs of widowed parents in assisting their children in the grieving process. The researcher chose this specific research topic for a number reasons, primarily based on her own observations and contact of her external world as the researcher had either come into direct contact with, or become aware of families in her community where one of the parents in families with children in early and/or middle childhood had passed away. Loosing a parent through death is a very traumatic experience for a child. How the child reacts to and deals with this trauma in the long-term, is greatly influenced by how the remaining parent reacts to and deals with the death him or herself, as well how he or she assists the child in the grieving process. Secondly, the research topic fits within the social work context as bereaved families may turn to the social work profession for guidance and assistance in understanding and resolving their loss. Therefore, the researcher was of the opinion that it would be of value to gain knowledge of the specific needs of the widowed parents in helping their children during the grieving process in order to offer these families more direct, focused and valuable assistance. The researcher made use of a qualitative approach in order to explore and gain an understanding of the needs of widowed parents' experiences in assisting their children in the grieving process. The researcher used applied research for her study, as it was hoped that the information gained would provide further knowledge to help the social work profession in assisting widowed parents and their children in the grieving process. Seven respondents were identified and chosen primarily through a non-probability sampling technique of purposive sampling. As the initial number of respondents were limited, the researcher also made use of the snowball sampling technique to further increase her sample. Data for the study was gathered by means of semi-structured one-to-one interviews, with the use of an interview schedule in order to gain a detailed picture of the widowed parents' perceptions and experiences of helping their children come to terms with the death of their parents. In studying the literature the researcher focused on two main aspects. Firstly, the children's grieving process, including their understanding of death, reaction to the death of a parent, as well as the actual grieving process of parentally bereaved children. Secondly, the researcher focused on the needs of widowed parents in assisting their children in the grieving process, including the important role they play in this process, their own emotions, challenges they are faced with in this process, the impact the death has on the family's functioning in relation to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and finally the availability and use of support systems for widowed parents. The findings of the study showed that all the respondents were aware of the impact the death had on their children, especially as most of the deaths were sudden and unexpected. Many needs were experienced, including telling the children about the death, loneliness, and perhaps the most difficult of all, finding a balance between expressing their own grief so that their children felt free to grieve but at the same time not falling apart completely, thereby overwhelming their children. Overall the researcher found that it appeared more important to the widowed parents that their children's needs be taken care of above their own. In concluding the study the researcher was of the opinion that grieving the loss of a loved one involves much more than just a process of steps. It encompasses a wide range of tasks, emotions, thoughts and behaviours. Therefore, in terms of helping to meet the needs of widowed parents in assisting their children in the grieving process, one cannot just make assumptions and based on this follow a set formula. Families, with children in early and middle childhood, who have lost a parent through death, find themselves in a very vulnerable and fragile state. The way they deal with the loss and the support they are given both informal and formal, can have a very significant impact on the future functioning of the remaining family members both individually and as a whole. Therefore, it is imperative that those assisting the family through the loss have knowledge of their needs so that they can assist them in a way that can bring about healing and restoration. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Social Work and Criminology / MSD / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This study describes the subjective psychological experience of African women positively living with and dying of HIV/AIDS, with a focus on the significant cognitive, emotional and social themes involved in their subjective sense of coping. HIV-positive African women have been identified as being at risk psychologically, due to gender inequality in African culture and society and the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS. Their traditional role as caregivers also places them at risk, but highlights the importance of understanding their experience in order to assist these women and their children. Drawing on interpretive methods within a qualitative research approach, ten women who are coping with their HIV-positive status were interviewed in order to gain an understanding of their experiences of coping with HIV/AIDS. The analysis of the interview material suggests that coping is a process of disconnection and reconnection that entails the ability to know one’s own experience. Coping was found to be a process of mourning in which the individual moves from a time of not coping toward acceptance of their status and the changes this necessitates in their relationships. Resolution of mourning seemed to entail greater integration of these women’s sense of themselves and psychological strength was found to originate in coping with adversity. The study draws on three theoretical approaches, namely positive psychology, object relations theory and analytical psychology. Carl Jung’s theory of individuation and Joseph Campbell’s interpretation of it, The Hero’s Journey, was used as a frame for the theoretical discussion. Within this frame, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ stages of mourning were integrated with Donald Winnicott’s description of separation in the move from dependence to independence, Winnicott’s ideas around the capacity to be alone, Melanie Klein’s description of the move from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position and Wilfred Bion’s ideas around the desire to know one’s own experience. Throughout the discussion a number of concepts from positive psychology were explored, such as: coping styles, social support, participation in life, positive goals, autonomy and resilience. The core of Jung’s theory, which is the integration of all aspects of the self, allowed space to explore distress and coping, both of which are entailed in the process of coping. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Psychology / unrestricted

This research focuses on the experiences of adolescents dealing with parental loss through death, irrespective of the age of the child at the time of loss. Through an increased understanding of this phenomenon, the researcher highlights the need for supporting and guiding adolescents who are dealing with parental loss. Role players are identified and insight into the task of assisting adolescents who are dealing with parental loss through death, is developed. A qualitative approach was followed in order to gain in-depth data regarding the experiences of adolescents dealing with parental loss through death. The general orientation to the research methodology is discussed in chapter one. The first objective of the study was to build a theoretical frame of reference regarding the field of adolescence as well as the influence of parental loss and the grief process, on this developmental stage. This objective is achieved in chapters two and three The second objective was to conduct an empirical study on the experiences of adolescents who were dealing with parental loss through death. The researcher conducted interviews at the school in which she works. Play techniques were implemented by the researcher to assist in exploring the adolescents’ experiences and therefore facilitate the research process. Themes and sub-themes were identified during the data collecting and analyzing processes. The findings are discussed in chapter four. The main themes, relating to the experiences of adolescents dealing with parental loss, identified in this study, are: <ul> <li> Emotions and needs vary and are linked to both the process of grieving and the development of a separate identity. <li> Although many possible support systems exist, insufficient guidance and support, both formal and informal, are being offered. <li> The adolescents’ focus on the past, present and future is affected by parental loss. <li> The relationship with the parents, both deceased and surviving, affects the adolescents’ functioning in the present. <li> Secondary implications of parental loss affect the adolescents’ experience of the loss. <li> Identity formation is affected by the bereavement process. <li> Risk and protection factors include present relationships and support systems; being offered the opportunity to grieve; spiritual beliefs and the adolescents’ behaviour. <li> Physical effects of dealing with parental loss though death included symptoms of depression.</li> </ul> The final objective of the research was to provide conclusions and recommendations and receives attention in chapter five. Recommendations are made to the South African Government, Department of Education and schools and include proposed strategies and policies for offering support to adolescents dealing with parental loss within the school systems. Recommendations to social workers and other professional support structures include bereavement training, flexible service delivery options and the developing and empowering of community-based structures. Knowledge of the experiences of adolescents dealing with parental loss through death is increased and the need for offering support and guidance to this vulnerable group in our society receives attention through this research. / Dissertation (MSD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This dissertation examines the way the work of two nineteenth-century American authors, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, borrowed from, challenged, and even worked to support prevailing cultural attitudes, conventions, and ideas regarding death, mourning and memorializing as they produced their poems and tales, articulated their thoughts regarding the purpose and act of producing and reading literature, and designed their material book or magazine objects. Using both new historicist and book studies methodologies, it exposes how these writers drew upon literary, ritual, and material practices of this culture, and how, in turn, this culture provided an interpretive framework for understanding such work. In its initial three chapters, which focus largely on Edgar Allan Poe, this dissertation revisits Poe's aesthetic philosophies ("The Poetic Principle" and "The Philosophy of Composition"), much of his most notable Gothic work (such as "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven"), readers' responses to this work, and his own attempts or designs to mass-produce his personal script (in "A Chapter on Autography," "Anastatic Printing," and his cover for The Stylus) in order to revise our understanding of his relationship to this culture and its literary work, exposing a more sympathetic and less subversive relationship than is usually assumed. It illumines how Poe's aesthetic philosophies were aligned with those that undergird many of the contemporary mourning objects of the day, how his otherwise Gothic and macabre literature nevertheless served rather conventional and even recuperative ends by exposing the necessity of and inviting readers to participate in culturally sanctioned acts of mourning, and how he sought to confirm the harmony between his work and more conventional "consolation" or mourning literature by actively seeking to bring that work (and the "self" that produced it) visibly before his readership in a medium that this culture held was a reliable indicator of the nature and intent of both that work and its producer - namely his own personal script. In its latter three chapters, this dissertation illuminates Whitman's own extensive use of mourning and memorial conventions in his work, disclosing the way his 1855 Leaves of Grass relied, in both its literary and physical construction, upon the conventions of mourning and memorial literature, detailing the way his 1865 book of Civil War poetry Drum-Taps sought to unite a national body politic by creating a poetic and material text capable of allowing a grieving public readership to reconnect with and successfully mourn their dead, and how his 1876 Two Rivulets, overtly conceived of as a memorial volume, made use of the conventions associated with mourning and memorializing to bring readers to a more democratic understanding of "self" that Whitman believed would transform America into the democratic utopia it was destined to become. In revealing the way in which these authors' works reflect and reflect upon this culture, its ideologies, rituals, and practices, the dissertation also illumines an otherwise critically underexplored connection between these two writers. It details the influence of Poe's work on Whitman's poetic project, and borrows from Whitman's critical response to Poe in order to recast our understanding of Poe's literature in the manner detailed above. Thus, this dissertation offers new interpretations of some of the period's most canonical literature, alters our thinking about the relationship of these authors to each other and to nineteenth-century sentimental culture, and, finally, exposes a curious interdependence between Gothic and more transcendental literature that has implications not only for reading the work of Whitman and Poe, but for interpreting these literatures more generally.

Dans un contexte de transformation du champ médical, la prise en charge hospitalière de la fin de vie devient un objet central de préoccupation dans les années 1970. La médecine palliative, qui s’institutionnalise en 1986, vise à y répondre en développant des accompagnements holistiques de la souffrance (physique, sociale, psychique et spirituelle) des patients en fin de vie et de leurs proches. Cette approche globale du soin modifie l’organisation du travail et fait primer la temporalité des phénomènes pathologiques sur leur spatialité, interrogeant l’épistémologie médicale dans son ensemble. Les Unités de Soins Palliatifs (USP), dédiées aux patients dont les traitements à visée curative ont été arrêtés, conservent une place caractéristique parmi les différentes structures palliatives. À partir d’une enquête qualitative menée au sein d’une USP, cette recherche a d’abord cherché à faire entendre la voix des professionnelles qui, bien souvent, aspirent en premier lieu à retourner le stigmate attaché à leur activité. Ce travail ethnographique s’est, en particulier, attaché à analyser la dimension spatiale des rapports sociaux. Conçu comme des dispositifs de lutte contre le « tabou de la mort » et, par là, d’annonce de la mort à venir, les USP matérialisent le temps par l’espace. Cet aménagement se double, dans les prises en charge, d’une matérialisation par les corps. Ainsi, le corps du patient devient le support autour duquel vont se tisser les liens et s’affirmer les identités. Ce faisant, les USP posent la question de la ritualité contemporaine, non pas tant par leur forme que par leur fonction. Du fait de sa position liminale, le cadavre cristallise ici des désirs ambivalents de maîtrise et de déprise. Le travail spécifique des soignantes paramédicales, de l’agonie à l’exposition post mortem du corps, est à ce titre révélateur. À travers l’analyse de leurs pratiques, l’enquête montre une résistance anthropologique, par-delà tous les changements sociologiques qui entourent les conditions de la fin de vie et les recompositions des logiques institutionnelles et de la division du travail à l’approche de la mort. / Hospital end of life care becomes an object of concern since the 1970’s, in the context of major transformations of the medical field. Institutionalised in 1986, palliative medicine intends to address this concern, by developing care that offers a holistic approach, taking into account different aspects of the suffering (physical, social, psychological and spiritual) of end of life patients and their relatives. Such a global approach to care modifies work organization. It places the temporality of the pathological phenomena over their spatiality, thus questioning medical epistemology as a whole. This research focuses on Palliative Care Units, exclusively dedicated to patients whose curative treatments have been stopped. It is based on a qualitative inquiry within one of these Units. First aimed at making the professionals’ voices heard, it conveys their wish to reverse the stigma attached to their activity. This ethnographic work focuses in particular on the analysis of the spatial and material dimension of social relations. Palliative care units are conceived to fight the “taboo of death”. Thus, they announce the upcoming death as they materialise the progression of time through the organisation of space. This materialisation occurs also through the bodies, as the patient’s body becomes the location upon which relationships and identities are structured. Studying the function of Palliative Care Units thus allows to question contemporary rituality. Because of its liminal position, the corpse crystallises ambivalent desires of control and disengagement. The work of paramedical caregivers, from the agony to the post mortem exhibition, is in that aspect especially revealing. Through the analysis of caregivers’ practices, this work shows an anthropological resistance, despite the major sociological changes surrounding end of life such as the transformations of the institutional logics and of the division of labour.

This diploma thesis is dealing with the methods teachers and school psychologist may use to approach their pupils who have been affected by the death of their relative, particularly a family member. The theoretical part of the thesis is focusing on the existing research in the area of mourning of school-age children and pays special attention to the risks connected with insensitive approach of teachers in this matter. The thesis tries to introduce some principles of the teacher's sensitive approach during the lessons, while paying extra attention to the personal and moral development of the individual in the area of their perception of surroundings, specifically during Civic Education and Health Education. The next topic in the theoretical part is the cognitive development of pupils and their view on the death itself in general, as it is a part of life that we have to somehow prepare for and thus need to have some kind of knowledge about the difficulties that come with death. The empirical part consists mainly of individual interviews with teachers and one school psychologist. As for the part of the interviews, analysis of study materials was included in which both their advantages and possible risks were considered. The aim of this thesis is mainly to formulate principles of the sensitive...

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