Since its beginning in May 2020, Rituals in the Making has developed in myriad ways, guided by the generosity of individuals and communities who have shared their experiences with death and mourning during the pandemic.
Here is a sampling of some of those conversations and observations from our fieldwork. They include excerpts from interviews, brief write-ups of events we attended and observed, as well as photo essays.
Memory and Affect: Comparing Experiences of COVID Loss in Brazil and the United States
Sarah Wagner and Andreia Vicente presented a joint paper at a memory studies conference on “cut-off” ritual and its effect on mourning and commemoration.
RIM Research Assistant Bawi Par Presented Her Research, “Mediated COVID Grief in the Laizo Chin Community,” at GW’s Sigur Center for Asia Studies
Originally born in Chin, Myanmar, Bawi came to the United States as a refugee with her family in 2010. Drawing on this background, in her presentation Bawi explored her community’s experience with COVID death, mourning, and funeral practice.
A Conversation with Dr. Christina Schwenkel on Vietnam’s Pandemic Soundscapes and Modes of Listening and Attunement
Professor of Anthropology and Southeast Asian Studies, Dr. Christina Schwenkel discussed a chapter from her forthcoming book on the sensorial and sociopolitical experiences of COVID-19 in Vietnam during the first months of lockdown.
May Research Team Retreat
The Rituals in the Making team gathered at principal investigator Richard Grinker’s home in DC for the day.
2023 Conference for the American Comparative Literature Association
Principal Investigator Dr. Joel Kuipers attended and presented his findings at the recent 2023 ACLA conference in Chicago.
Observing Remembrance: The third annual lighting ceremony at Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial
Five team members (Sarah Frieman, Paige Gavin, Maura Kelly-Yuoh, Sebastian Sirais, and Sarah Wagner) traveled up to the Allaire Community Farm in Wall, NJ to join the commemorative ceremony at the first permanent national memorial to COVID victims on March 19, 2023.
Voices of Funeral Service, Iowa
“Fly in the Milk:” African/American Rituals in White Spaces While there are 4.1% of African Americans in the state of Iowa there is a sizeable population of West African immigrants. Between 1990 and 1993 a couple of thousand African refugees were admitted to the U.S. each year with admittance doubling from 3,000 to 7,000. In…
Voices of Funeral Service, New York – African Diasporic Identity
In Harlem, some of the nation’s oldest funeral homes are owned by immigrants from Central America. This Black history across the five boroughs outlines incredible stories of immigration from the Caribbean Islands and greater Latin America. This project asks important questions of how and what ways have these African Diasporic identities served as the foundation…
2023 GW Anthropology Department Symposium
Several of our Research Assistants and Principle Investigators had the opportunity to present their independent research findings at the annual GW Anthropology Department Symposium.
Voices of Funeral Service, Virginia
In Norfolk, the Grave Family openly discussed how the Chesapeake Bay Boating Disaster of 1955 catapulted their business to where it is today. A schooner named the Levin J. Marvel capsized in the Chesapeake Bay near the town of North Beach, Maryland. The ship sought shelter from Hurricane Connie in Herring Bay during a weeklong…
Voices of Funeral Service, Baltimore
“I had to take care of the community; I had to take care of the dead.” –Mr. Joseph H. Brown, III, CEO of Joseph H. Brown, Jr. Funeral Home “It’s just what we do.” –Mrs. Nadean Paige, 16-year Funeral Service Professional Founder of C.A.L.L.E.D. African Americans in Baltimore have been engaged in the death…
Voices of Funeral Service, New Jersey
In order to understand the state of the African American mortuary industry during a pandemic world, we must understand the roots of the Black Activist Funeral Tradition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1YL9n-saww ~James Morgan, III
Culture Keepers
Showcasing the “Culture Keepers” Research: Dr. Fletcher presents a preview of the oral history project on African American funeral homes
“It Feels Like We’re Putting Them to Rest”: The final day of cleaning and ordering the flags from the In America: Remember installation
The 20,000 flags enter a new stage as a physical-digital archive of COVID loss and remembrance.
Voices of Funeral Service, Missouri
Passed down through the generations in the African American community, funeral Service is a network of families forged by blood and bond.
Coding, Plotting, and Analyzing the Language of Misinformation: A deep dive into contested knowledge on social media
Examining thousands of posts about COVID on social media, the CIC subteam is using qualitative database software to analyze them.
Materializing the Virtual: Engaging in Online and In-Person COVID-19 March to Remember Memorial Events
Mobilization around COVID justice and remembrance takes different forms and is propelled by a range of organizations, activists, and mourners. A prime example was the multi-sited COVID March to Remember event, organized by COVID Survivors for Change, Yellow Heart Memorial, and Faces of COVID Victims. The march and associated events took place over three days,…
Signs of Insistence and Resistance: Clashing Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
In the early months of 2022, the United States was once again in the middle of a surge with the omicron variant sweeping through communities across the country. The Rituals in the Making team had the opportunity to observe first hand the clashing experiences and interpretations of the pandemic at that point in time through…
Field Notes from ‘In America, how could this happen…’
In a way, these two signs create a moment of ironic condemnation. These are two institutions toward which many Americans look for safety and yet suspended between them is a representation of a quarter-million deceased citizens.
‘When Everything is Stripped Away, What is Left is All We Really Need’
“I cut sprigs and then tucked them in the grave by the coffin. I think these were more meaningful than store-bought flowers because they were her flowers. Her azaleas.”
‘These Are Grievous Times’: In Memoriam at a Lutheran Church in Upstate New York
“One of the most important human things we do is honor our dead and grieve.”
From Croatia to Rhode Island and Back: Struggling to Celebrate a life during the Pandemic
“I also want to celebrate my mom’s life and I’m afraid Zoom would just be about her death. My parents had a beautiful life.”
When One Cannot Sit Shiva
When we spoke to Emma, a 27 year-old social work student in Manhattan, she was still feeling overwhelmed by the deaths of her two grandfathers, Bob and Marty. She was also overwhelmed by the rules Jewish funerals necessitated.
Photos from Reflections: Community Event for the National COVID Memorial
As with so much of this research, we often find ourselves drawn into the very ‘rituals in the making’ that we seek to understand.
Rituals in the Making 