Suffering Peacefully: Experiences of Infancy Death in Contemporary Zambia

Abstract

In Ng'ombe Township in Lusaka, the death of a baby is often met with silence. Based on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores how the bereaved mother's silence is guided by wider cultural norms and values associated with death, by complex notions of what it means to be a person, and by local perceptions of mental health and well‐being. To enhance the complexity of the mother's silences, it also explores how structures of poverty manifest in mothers’ experiences of loss and how silence may hold feelings of inadequacy but also of care and compassion. Finally, the article aims to provide a counterweight to the predominant assumption that mothers in poor communities, who experience high levels of infant mortality, fail to mourn the death of their babies, as well as to psychological theories that assumes verbal expressions as vital for the mourner's mental recovery after loss.

Competing aspects of the rural Arab mothers' bereavement experience

“…As in previous studies, our findings revealed a high risk of intense grief when faced with the loss of a child in cases of violent or sudden death (Djelantik et al, 2020). At the same time, as in previous studies, we found that the environmental conditions in which the bereaved mother lives are key factors in the experience of bereavement after the loss (Silverman et al, 2021;Smørholm, 2016).…”

“…The culturally sensitive literature draws attention to how culture defines the path individuals follow when grieving (Smørholm, 2016). Studies have emphasized the cultural elements present in the grieving process (Kofod & Brinkmann, 2017; Silverman et al, 2021; Yasien‐Esmael et al, 2020), where the living circumstances of the bereaved were of significant relevance to the extent and manner in which they managed their grief (Harris, 2010; Hemer, 2010; Rothaupt & Becker, 2007).…”

Silence

“…In the face of suffering, the effortful work of silence may also help sustain precarious social relations. For some, silence may be the most virtuous-yet incredibly effortful-way of enduring pain and loss (see, for example, Buch Segal 2016;Livingston 2012;Smørholm 2016). Even where narrative utterances like 'you endure' help to constitute enduring pain as virtuous, people may remain silent about some experiences simply because they are impossible to put into words (Throop 2010).…”

Pure as the angels, wise as the dead: Perceptions of infants’ agency in a Zambian community

“… 5. For a comprehensive discussion on the universality of the Scheper-Hughes hypothesis that mothers in poor communities with high infant mortality and fertility do not mourn the loss of their babies, see Einarsdottir (2004) and Smørholm (in press). …”