Surun paikka

Abstract

In this article we study the process of grieving, places of grief, and their multiple meanings in parents’ lives after the loss of a child. Based on interviews with nine parents, we analyse the socio-spatial dimensions and practices of bereavement. Grief, mourning, and remembering are experienced in physical places and in the body, as well as through socio-spatial dialogue. According to our interviews, bereavement of a child continues to be a recurring experience throughout daily life. Our main conclusion is that grief is only partly tied to particular physical places (location). Moreover, grief travels in time, and it is always related to other lived places experienced through the body of the parent. Our analysis illustrates how the body becomes a place of grief, and it highlights the role of everyday dialogue in maintaining parents’ continuing bonds with their deceased child. The meaning of places changes with loss in parents’ everyday life, and dialogue allows for maintaining a promise of care related to close relationships.