Abstract
The article asks whether disasters that destroy life but leave the material infrastructure relatively intact tend to prompt communal coping focusing on loss, while disasters that destroy significant material infrastructure tend to prompt coping through restoration/rebuilding. After comparing memorials to New Zealand’s Christchurch earthquake and Pike River mine disasters, we outline circumstances in which collective restorative endeavor may be grassroots, organized from above, or manipulated, along with limits to effective restoration. We conclude that bereavement literature may need to take restoration more seriously, while disaster literature may need to take loss more seriously.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 405-414 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Death Studies |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 4 Jan 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- communal loss, earthquake, grief, communitas, volunteers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences