A figurational analysis of the role of the church in handling issues of widowhood amid Covid-19 in northern KwaZuluNatal, South Africa

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the role of the church in handling issues of widowhood amid the rampant Covid-19 pandemic using Christian teachings and Ubuntu in selected parishes in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. Widowhood is a social phenomenon caused by a transition from married status to being a widow or widower due to the death of a spouse. Although a huge chunk of literature enumerates different ways in which widows have been ill-treated and treated as second citizens by communities over the years, this article argues that men grieve too and have also been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. There is undoubtedly little state of balance between men and women in societies, but the reality is that men can also feel physical and emotional pain due to the loss of a spouse and they too need support in order to be able to move forward after experiencing a loss. They therefore cannot be divorced from being part of an intertwined church figuration where the concern is in ‘process’, not ‘state’ (Elias, 1978). This study is gender inclusive in that it focusses not only on women but also a range of experiences of widowers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using figurational sociology by Elias (1978), this qualitative study adopted an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interrogate the role of the church in the lives of the widowed during the pandemic. Selecting ten widowed congregants from different African churches in northern KZN as part of figurations, the study sought to explore what role the church has played to support the widowed when death occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. By using figurational sociology, widowhood research problems are perceived in processual terms with shifting asymmetrical power balances. Data was collected through praxis essays and semi-structured interviews of 5 widows and 5 widowers, with all participants purposively selected. Findings reveal that the church has struggled to provide care and support because of regulations such as social distancing and government prescribed alert levels which restricted movement in society. Even though the widowed understood Covid-19 regulations, they have felt alienated and marginalised during their period of bereavement. The perceived lack of support ruptured loyalty and fractured interpersonal relationships during and after the time of mourning. The study recommends new ways of pastoral care and advocates for a figurational care model as an arsenal to support people, mending relationships and restoring dignity.