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| Dublin Core |
PKP Metadata Items |
Metadata for this Document |
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| 1. |
Title |
Title of document |
17. When Glaciers Die: Mourning and Memorialisation in Ecological Devastation - Religion, Death and the Senses |
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| 2. |
Creator |
Author's name, affiliation, country |
Jonatan Spejlborg Juelsbo; University of Winchester |
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| 3. |
Subject |
Discipline(s) |
Religious Studies |
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| 4. |
Subject |
Keyword(s) |
ecological grief; glacier funeral; glacier memorial; Burton-Christie; climate change and grief |
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| 5. |
Subject |
Subject classification |
Religion and the Senses; Death and Dying |
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| 6. |
Description |
Abstract |
In 2019 a funeral service was held on the mountain which, until recently, had been covered by the glacier ‘Ok’ in Iceland – the first of Iceland’s more than 400 glaciers to be declared ‘dead’, with many more predicted to follow in the coming years. This event, and many other like it, can be seen as an expression of a sense of loss in the face of dramatic climate change and rapid species extinction. Through the concept of ecological grief, developed as an articulation of the ways in which environmental change effects mental and emotional wellbeing, this essay argues that mourning and memorialisation of the loss of land(scapes) is a complex assemblage of acts of mourning, ontological positioning, political statements, and activist practice. Building on the work of Burton-Christie (2011), Willox (2012), Butler (2004) and others, in this chapter I will explore how a sense of loss and the responses of grieving, mourning, and memorializing can shed light on relational patterns and existing value- and power structures while potentially also manifesting, embodying, and nurturing ethical relationships with the other-than-human environment. While translating existing death rituals, such as a funeral, to a climate change context and human – non-human relations might present its own set of problems and complexities, this essay nonetheless argues, with Burton-Christie, that a sense of loss can be seen “as part of a restorative spiritual practice that can rekindle an awareness of the bonds that connect all life-forms to one another and to the larger ecological whole” (2011; 30). |
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Publisher |
Organizing agency, location |
Equinox Publishing Ltd |
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| 8. |
Contributor |
Sponsor(s) |
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| 9. |
Date |
(YYYY-MM-DD) |
01-Aug-2024 |
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| 10. |
Type |
Status & genre |
Peer-reviewed Article |
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| 11. |
Type |
Type |
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| 12. |
Format |
File format |
PDF |
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| 13. |
Identifier |
Uniform Resource Identifier |
https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/books/article/view/43891 |
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| 14. |
Identifier |
Digital Object Identifier |
10.1558/equinox.43891 |
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| 15. |
Source |
Journal/conference title; vol., no. (year) |
Equinox eBooks Publishing; Religion, Death and the Senses |
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| 16. |
Language |
English=en |
en |
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| 18. |
Coverage |
Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.) |
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| 19. |
Rights |
Copyright and permissions |
Copyright 2014 Equinox Publishing Ltd |