Posts by Naomi Richards

Another Day in Paradise and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Two Prompts for Contemplating Death as an 11-Year Old Child

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The first half of this blog was written by Simon Dewhurst, who works in the facilities team at the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability. The second half is written by Dr Marian Krawczyk, Lecturer and programme lead for the End of Life Studies PGCert/PGDip/MSc. The genesis of the blog was a serendipitous conversation between… Continue reading

Dying in the Margins – Reflections

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The ESRC-funded Dying in the Margins study officially ended this week after 4 years (31st August 2023). Below are some of our reflections on this complex study. The various impacts of the work are still unfolding as Marie Curie continue to press for legislative changes at Holyrood and Westminster, and as we begin to take the… Continue reading

The Financial Impact of Paying for a Funeral: Call for Research Participants

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Blog by Ruth Bickerton, PhD Candidate in Human Geography at the University of Dundee Almost one in five people organising a funeral in the UK have notable financial concerns about paying for it[1]. This means that over 126,000 funerals each year cause real financial problems[2]. Funerals can cost on average in the region of £4,000 for… Continue reading

DeathWrites: Writing Truth Through Fiction

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This blog piece was written by Charlotte Luke, a writer from Inverness, who is also part of the RSE-funded DeathWrites network of 30 Scotland-based writers. Last year, around 8 months after my dad died in a hillwalking accident, I heard about the DeathWrites Network, a group of writers tackling the subjects of death, dying and… Continue reading

Making Sense of Dying During the Covid-19 Pandemic  – How Can Classic Anthropological Theories Help Us?

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How can anthropological theories enhance understanding of how people dying of Covid-19 were treated during the height of the pandemic? Dr Marian Krawczyk and I are both anthropologists who teach and research about end of life. We felt there was value in highlighting some key theories which could aid public understanding. Our new 2023 article,… Continue reading

Paddleton: A Film Review

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This review was written by Kelly Oberle and Jennifer Rigal, both students on the End of Life Studies MSc programme at the University of Glasgow. In the fall of 2021, as students on the Assisted Dying: Rhetorics and Reality module in the End of Life Studies MSc program at the University of Glasgow, we were… Continue reading

Creating Representations of Dying, Death, and Grief: An Innovative Student Assignment

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On the End of Life Studies MSc Programme, there is a course entitled Cultural Representations of Death and Dying which examines how dying, death and grief have been represented in popular culture (film, TV, mainstream fiction), visual arts (fine art, photography) and literary genres (creative non- fiction) over the last half century. Students are introduced to… Continue reading

DeathWrites Network – 2nd Symposium

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The DeathWrites Network, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and University of Glasgow Arts Lab, held its 2nd Symposium on 6th October, 2022. During the hybrid event at the historic Glasgow Women’s Library, we heard keynotes from the Scottish poet, playwright, and performer Hannah Lavery and from the Open Museum curator, Elaine Addington. Our Network of 30 talented Scotland-based writers,… Continue reading