Abstract

TALONE, Vittorio. The Contexture of Grief: A Pragmatist Approach on the Continuity of Life after Violent Death Experiences in the City of Rio de Janeiro. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online]. 2023, n.132, pp.75-98.  Epub Dec 31, 2023. ISSN 2182-7435.  https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.15123.

Based on the fieldwork done with two support groups for people who had contact with a “violent death”, this article examines the different dimensions and characteristics of these individuals’ lives that shapes what we call grief. Mobilizing a pragmatic and pragmatist approach, I argue that there are different (non-linear) phases/scopes characterized by a collective work on personal remembrance and on intimate sensations, whose objective is to encourage people in mourning to conceive future possibilities in their lives. The process goes from the breaking with past habits caused by the extreme event to the investigation of new potential for action which aims to build new stable habits. I show how the transformation of sensations and the engagement in collective activities contribute to this indefinite period as a “life ordeal”, characterized as mourning by the groups and individuals studied.

Keywords : death; memory; mourning; pragmatism; support groups; urban violence.

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