The lived experience of men during death, dying and bereavement following same-sex partner loss in adulthood in the United Kingdom: A ‘comparative’ autoethnographic and exo-autoethnographic study
Within existing thanatological research around bereaved same-sex partners it is argued that there is a paucity of existing literature around culturally sensitive and effective practice with this part of the population.
Research that does exist on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning (LGBTIQ) populations experiences of same-sex partner bereavement tends to focus on, and sees, this part of the population as a homogenous group; and as such gives little consideration to gender, age, or intersectional differences.
Therefore, my thesis will be looking at the lived experience of men whose same-sex partner has died during adulthood, and their experiences of End-of-Life (EoL) care, death, grief, and bereavement from a UK perspective within contemporary society.
While previous studies have tended to use the term ‘queer’, ‘gay’, bisexual’ or variants of the acronym LGBTQ+ when referring to same sex attraction, in order to simplify and enable a broader participant group within this research I intend to use the much broader term of same-sex attracted men in order to be able to include men who do not identify with specific contemporary non-cis-hetero labels .However, when listening to and analysing the stories of individual men who participate within the study, their own term for identifying / describing themselves will be used.
Within my thesis I will be engaging in, and performing, scholarly treason and academic heresy, in that I will be using a methodology that challenges the epistemological (and ethical and political) implications of academic and scholarly traditions; thereby challenging what she refers to the ‘malestream’, i.e., cis-hetero, assumptions of traditional social science research around value, neutrality, and objectivity within the research process. The main focus of the research will be around the personal stories of loss shared with me via in-depth interviews and written narratives by men who have experienced same-sex partner loss, as well as my own experience.
Prior to the advent of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s there was little interest in the subject area of same-sex male grief and bereavement within the social sciences, apart from pieces that looked at, and demonsised ‘the homosexual’ as being abhorrent, perverted, and diseased. However, during the AIDS era of the 1980’s there was a surge of research interest in the bereavement experience of queer men, and the larger same-sex attracted ‘community’.
From a theoretical perspective I will be drawing upon queer and feminist theory, affect theories, EoL, death, grief, and bereavement studies in an interdisciplinary / scavenger format, to understand how same-sex attracted men’s social reality around death, dying, and bereavement are experienced and made through human experience and social contexts. Methodologically, I will be using an interpretive autoethnographic and exo-autoethnographic approach, informed by queer, feminist, scavenger methodologies, and interpretive content analysis. While autoethnography seeks to focus on the lived experience of the researcher, which allows for the analysis of how the lived reality and truth of the researcher are constructed and shaped through interactions between themselves and the culture in which they live and interact with. In exo-autoethnography the focus is on the analysis of how autoethnographic individual and private experiences, as directed by others experience or history (exo) of living through similar life events but not experienced directly by the researcher can lead to a better understanding of a lived experience and history that impacts the researcher by proxy, as well as personal and community experience (ethno) as related to lived experiences. The lived experiences will be analysed against current research and literature on EoL care, death, grief, and bereavement.
I intend that the research will produce new knowledge not only on same-sex attracted men’s experiences of death, dying and bereavement within adulthood, but also on the conditions of living as a same-sex couple lives in British society, particularly in terms of kinship, rituals, and the different kinds of affective normativities related to them. I envision that it will also shed light on the affective complexity of meaningful relationships and how these affect same-sex attracted men in a variety of ways when they experience bereavement. Furthermore, I intend this research to contribute to and expand both theoretically and empirically to the emerging field of queer death studies and raises a discussion on the possibilities of queer culture of death in British society, as well as to produce helpful suggestions for clinicians and researchers working with bereaved men who have lost a same-sex partner.
I am a retired Registered Mental Nurse with extensive experience within acute and rehabilitation services in the NHS. I have a B.A. (Hons) in Independent Studies and Women’s Studies (University of Lancaster), an MSc in Inequality and Society (University of Sunderland), an Advanced Certificate for Conversion to Registered Nurse in Mental Health (University of Central Lancashire) and a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training (University of Sunderland).
As a nurse I have sat and worked with individuals facing their own deaths, watched as families grieved for the life about to end, pronounced death, delivered the news of the death of a loved one, performed last rites, and finally worked with bereaved individuals for them to make meaning of, and work through, their bereavement and grief. As an educator, I have delivered undergraduate, professional, and vocational courses; both to health care professionals and within the funerial profession to funeral directors, and allied staff, about death, dying and bereavement, both the practical components of death, and how to ‘work’ with the deceased individual, their loved ones, and the theoretical aspects of death.
My previous academic work, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, has been multi-disciplinary in scope, but has been underpinned from nursing, social science, and queer theory perspectives. I am interested in how death and dying intersect with various aspects of identity, including sexuality, gender, and culture. My research is informed by narrative medicine framework, autoethnographic methods, and the role of storytelling in informing clinical practice and policy development.