Project title: Nonreligion in Death Cafés and End of Life Care
Project leader and contact person: Inger Furseth
Background
This project examines lifestances in Death Cafés and End of Life Care and what they can tell us about nonreligion. The historical residue of religion in healthcare has to some extent remained, transformed into spiritual care and psychologized as “spiritual well-being.” Does this conflict with the beliefs, values, and practices of the nonreligious?
Since 2011, more than 15,000 Death Cafés have been hosted in over 80 countries. These “pop-up” events aim to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” Death Cafés are a nonreligious and non-institutional alternative community to which people turn to understand and cope with death. Participants are able to have frank discussions about their own mortality and what happens after death, as well as the challenges of caring for loved ones and navigating the practicalities of death.
End of Life Care is a broad term describing all the decisions and activities that go into a person’s final days, months, or years. It can include managing symptoms that come with life-threatening illnesses, supporting a dying patient’s mental wellbeing, or guiding someone through the medical options that they can pursue. In historically Christian majority countries like Norway, healthcare has been strongly shaped by Christianity. This shapes how end of life care is administered. Even the advent of palliative care, which shifted focus from curing patients to increasing their comfort and dignity, has largely been influenced by Christianity. Our question is if practices in palliative care and by death doulas, including assisted dying, reflect religious beliefs about dying? Our aim is to examine how death is understood in these contexts and what implications there are for religious and nonreligious people. These questions illustrate the need to understand the role of nonreligion in shaping key social and moral aspects of health issues.
Key themes
Through the study of Death Cafés and End of Life Care, this project explores the attitudes, practices, and concerns around death and dying of both religious and nonreligious participants. The project will help us to gain a deeper understanding of not just how nonreligion is reshaping conceptualizations of death, but further knowledge of concerns, needs, and forms of care that matter to nonreligious people.
Methods/data
Focus groups and interviews: So far, some data have been collected: One focus group and four interviews of Death Cafés, four interviews of Death Doulas, and three interviews of hospice workers. We need more interview data in all these areas. A survey has been sent out to members of various nonreligious societies, but there is a need for more respondents.
Social sciences/humanities
The student should have a background in the social sciences or humanities.
Resources
This is a part-time Research Assistant position for a MA-level student, where you collect data for the project. If you would like to do so, it will be possible to use some of the data you have collected for your Master´s Thesis. The position is on an hourly basis and will last about 8-10 weeks in a 50% position. It is possible to work less over a longer period of time. You will be involved in Nordic and international networks of the project. If you do a MA thesis, the findings of your thesis will be communicated to the rest of the research team, and the MA thesis will be published on the website of the project.
Project period
The project will last for 2-6 months.
Project leader:
Inger Furseth
Professor, Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi
Email: inger.furseth@sosgeo.uio.noHjemmeside: https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/personer/vit/ingerfur/
The principal investigator of “Nonreligion in a Complex Future” is of Professor Lori Beaman at University of Ottawa, Canada. Professor emeritus Inger Furseth is a Co-Investigator who directs a Nordic research group. Furseth is professor emeritus in sociology at University of Oslo, who has conducted various research projects and written several books and articles in the sociology of religion. Her research focus is on nonreligion and migration, religious extremism, Muslim women, social movements, gender, and social theory.