We started season four with a conversation on grief, death and dying together with Prof Karla FC Holloway (author and Emerita Professor of English and Law, Duke University) and Dr Bill Hoy (Clinical Professor, Baylor University). We explored how we listen, how we study, and how we share the experiences of death and dying. We sought wisdom from African American perspectives, and allowed the personal and the academic to give us new perspectives on bereavement and loss.

Here are some takeaway messages, that we hope will inspire you to listen to the podcast and come on a journey with us, through an area that touches us all.

The personal and the academic

Our conversation was at all times honest, gentle, challenging, respectful, and open. We found together that our understanding of death, dying and bereavement was informed by academic study of funeral rights, consideration of racial injustice, and by the weaving together of threads from deeply personal stories and academic study. The experiences of Karla and Bill wove into their academic studies, and showed us that the personal and the academic can belong together, walk together and teach each other in this most difficult of areas.

Respectful exchange

Although Karla and Bill knew each other’s work, we were grateful that the Conversation series offered them a space for a more extensive exchange of ideas. During the recording, but also when we met before, Bill spoke with admiration and respect about the African American funeral culture. Our conversation sadly also highlighted the persistent issues of systematic racism which remain to perpetuate social injustices around health, illness and dying for black people. Speaking as an individual, Karla shared the powerful message that we should seek to cultivate the cultural and spiritual connections we have. We were grateful to Kala and Bill to bring this respectful exchange to our series.

The importance of rituals

We talked about the importance of rituals in the saying goodbye to those we love who have died, and how these have originated in different communities. These were exemplified in African American traditions, and how technology was changing the traditions, often with positivity. We learnt that we can ask deep questions of the nature of these rituals and of our responses to bereavement, achieving academic insights whilst treating the knowledge and the personal experiences as something sacred.

Come and listen to a beautiful, special interdisciplinary and personal space and discussion.