Doodnormaal Gesprek
Robin Pieper
Mourning among young adults is rarely attended to as it is not usually part of the young adult experience in the Netherlands. Mourning and death used to be more self-evident, Westernizing has changed our attitude towards death in our society. Thus, it is uncommon that peers would experience this loss together. Young adults comprise a group that is in between, no longer being a child and not yet an adult. As such, the loss of a parent or close loved one also means not having that loved one present to share new life phases and milestones.
Mourning often falls at the margin of public discourse in young adults as the focus is often on career development and university tenure. In this research I ask how the taboo around grief and mourning the loss of a parent or close loved one, among young adults (16-25 years), can be normalized.
“Grieving youth can usually give loss a place but have difficulties with the convulsive reactions of their environment.” (Ansu. A, 2020). Since grief and mourning is a process we enter in together and the sharing with peers plays a major role in this experience, I meditate on how mourning can be attended to? How can it be given a space within the young adult experience?
The insights gained from the research phase led to the conversation piece ‘Doodnormaal gesprek’. With the help of this conversation piece, mourners and their peers who might not have experienced grief, come closer together and learn how to support the grieving person in the mourning experience.
Doodnormaal Gesprek
Robin Pieper
Mourning among young adults is rarely attended to as it is not usually part of the young adult experience in the Netherlands. Mourning and death used to be more self-evident, Westernizing has changed our attitude towards death in our society. Thus, it is uncommon that peers would experience this loss together. Young adults comprise a group that is in between, no longer being a child and not yet an adult. As such, the loss of a parent or close loved one also means not having that loved one present to share new life phases and milestones.
Mourning often falls at the margin of public discourse in young adults as the focus is often on career development and university tenure. In this research I ask how the taboo around grief and mourning the loss of a parent or close loved one, among young adults (16-25 years), can be normalized.
“Grieving youth can usually give loss a place but have difficulties with the convulsive reactions of their environment.” (Ansu. A, 2020). Since grief and mourning is a process we enter in together and the sharing with peers plays a major role in this experience, I meditate on how mourning can be attended to? How can it be given a space within the young adult experience?
The insights gained from the research phase led to the conversation piece ‘Doodnormaal gesprek’. With the help of this conversation piece, mourners and their peers who might not have experienced grief, come closer together and learn how to support the grieving person in the mourning experience.
