Voces de Las Madres: Traumatic bereavement after gang-related homicide

Abstract

This narrative ethnography analyzed cultural processes influencing bereavement following Latino gang-related homicide in the Southwestern U.S. A hermeneutic approach explicated bereavement experiences of two mothers, one Mexican American and one Pascau Yaqui/Mexican, whose sons were killed in the same gang-related event. Responses to gang-related deaths from Latino communities were also studied. The mothers' bereavement included six processes: (1) dehumanization; (2) ongoing shock; (3) diversity in bereavement responses; (4) spiritual and religious aspects; (5) construction of meaning; and (6) emerging self-transcendence. Mothers' bereavement responses were highly reflective of their own cultural contexts. The process of dehumanization was an important reflection of the social stigma the mothers felt about gang-related deaths. The process of self-transcendence indicated the mothers utilized personal and cultural resources to develop new perspectives that enhanced their lives in the context of great suffering. Two themes emerged among Mexican American communities one-week following gang-related deaths. First, rituals embodied four communal functions: (1) providing community support; (2) honor and recognition for the deceased; (3) helping the deceased; and (4) support in expression of emotions. Second, public discourse functioned to rehumanize the deceased and their communities and reinforced reciprocal relationships between the living and dead. Among Mexican American parents struggling to integrate the violent death of a child, four themes were identified: (1) sharing the process of bereavement; (2) sensing spiritual connections with the child; (3) creating space and place for the child; and (4) contesting dehumanizing public domains. Findings from this study have implications for practice, research, and theory in nursing and other human science disciplines. Parents grieving stigmatized deaths may suffer greatly due to dehumanizing judicial proceedings and media representations that complicate the bereavement process. The use of narratives, or storytelling, was an important strategy in rehumanization and an effective vehicle for the establishment of a therapeutic relationship. Conceptually and methodologically, studies on traumatic bereavement may need to account for and measure the simultaneous presence of distress and wellness during people's healing trajectories. Bereavement theorists may need to re-evaluate notions of maladaptive grieving to account for disorganized states of being that may accompany people's evolution in healing trajectories.