Risk, mourning, politics: Toward a transnational critical conception of grief for COVID-19 deaths in Iran

Abstract

This article examines the case of COVID-19 deaths and grief in Iran in order to shed light on how the biological, social and political ‘risks of contagion’ combine to impact mourning and grief. As a contagious biological agent, the novel coronavirus causes people to suffer, die and grieve alone. But this loneliness is deepened due to social stigma and political abandonment. Conceptually guided by Mary Douglas’s work on the socio-cultural and political constructions of ‘contagion’, Judith Butler’s notion of ‘ungrievable lives’ and Kenneth Doka’s concept of ‘disenfranchised grief’, the authors of this article have undertaken a preliminary mixed-methods study that explores the possibility of a transnational, decolonial understanding of grief in a time of contagion.

Death, Funeral Rituals, and Stigma: Perspectives from Mortuary Workers and Bereaved Families

“…Families in the current study who felt incomplete due to not being able to give their family member the proper funeral rituals shared a sense of guilt similar to that of bereaved families in the UK (Lightbody et al, 2022 ). In other studies, such disrupted bereavement and grieving processes were found to be associated with prolonged grief symptoms because the final memory of a loved one might become distorted (Bayatrizi et al, 2021 ; Djelantik et al, 2021 ; Gabay & Tarabeih, 2022 ; Smith et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In light of this finding, a previous study noted that spiritual healers and religious leaders are an important part of Indonesian culture and belief systems (Liem, 2020 ). Previous studies among Muslims in Iran (Bayatrizi et al, 2021 ) and Jews in the US (Dajani et al, 2022 ) also highlighted the importance of engaging religious leaders in communicating the COVID-19 funeral protocol to bereaved families. These religious leaders are trusted by the community and can be helpful if modification of the funeral rites and rituals is needed (Suwalowska et al, 2021 ), and they can also provide pastoral care to the bereaved families (Gulo et al, 2022 ; Lightbody et al, 2022 ).…”

“…This has also been found in countries with similar settings, such as the Philippines (Kahambing & Edilo, 2020 ) and Colombia (Cassiani-Miranda et al, 2020 ). Stigma and discrimination toward bereaved families have been linked to loneliness and depressive symptoms (Bayatrizi et al, 2021 ). Similar to the families in West Timor in the current study, fear of stigma could lead people to refuse to believe that their loved one died because of COVID-19.…”

“…Similar to the families in West Timor in the current study, fear of stigma could lead people to refuse to believe that their loved one died because of COVID-19. The study among Muslim families in Iran found that families would request that a different cause of death be written on the death certificate to prevent discrimination by their neighbors (Bayatrizi et al, 2021 ; Ostadhashemi et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Religious and cultural funeral rituals are common in Indonesia when someone passes away. For Muslims, following the washing ritual and purification of the body, Islamic rituals dictate that bodies must be wrapped in a white cloth and buried without a casket so that the body can be laid on its right side facing the holy city of Mecca (Bayatrizi et al, 2021 ). However, in practice, these death rituals subtly vary across cultural groups because of the influence of local culture (Gabay & Tarabeih, 2022 ).…”