Crafting death : grief, stories, and materiality in Katikati Coffin Club : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand

dc.contributor.authorRussell, Bronwyn
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-18T02:40:59Z
dc.date.available2020-09-18T02:40:59Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractCoffin Clubs are a social phenomenon in Aotearoa New Zealand, where people gather for two main purposes: to talk about death and dying, and to build their own coffins. This latter, practical aspect is what sets Coffin Clubs apart from other death-related support groups. This research explores why people attend Katikati Coffin Club. My field work involved attending Katikati Coffin Club on a weekly basis for more than a year. While I was there, I helped build and decorate many coffins, including my own. Using participant-observation and ethnographic accounts from club members, my findings reveal the nuanced reasons people choose to attend Coffin Club, and why many continue to attend long after they have finished building their coffin. This research explores the practical element of Katikati Coffin Club through the lens of the anthropology of craftwork. I consider how the act of building a coffin facilitates conversations about death, dying and grief. I argue that building a coffin can be seen as a form of storytelling, and an acknowledgement of mortality. Finally, I suggest that Coffin Club provides an alternative to the coffins sold by the funeral industry, and is a way to take control of/personalise ‘death work’ (actively preparing for death, both practically and in more abstract, emotional ways). My findings assert that Coffin Club helps people talk about death and grief. It creates a space for people to share different practices relating to death work, and provides an opportunity to craft narratives. As club members tell their stories through crafting a coffin, they are also able to narrate their loss and grief. As they craft their coffin, they also craft the relationships and the social space around them. In performing a practical aspect of death work, Coffin Club members are working on grief and loss. Woodwork, death work and the work of grief, occurring simultaneously.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10179/15637
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMassey Universityen_US
dc.rightsThe Authoren_US
dc.subjectKatikati Coffin Cluben_US
dc.subjectCoffinsen_US
dc.subjectDesignen_US
dc.subjectNew Zealanden_US
dc.subjectMourning customsen_US
dc.subjectDeathen_US
dc.subjectSocial aspectsen_US
dc.subjectPsychological aspectsen_US
dc.subjectNarrative inquiry (Research method)en_US
dc.subjectCoffin Cluben_US
dc.subjectcraftingen_US
dc.subjectmaterialityen_US
dc.subjectembodimenten_US
dc.subjectstorytelllingen_US
dc.subjectgriefen_US
dc.subject.anzsrc440107 Social and cultural anthropologyen
dc.titleCrafting death : grief, stories, and materiality in Katikati Coffin Club : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealanden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
massey.contributor.authorRussell, Bronwyn
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Anthropologyen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
RussellMAThesis.pdf
Size:
9.2 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
3.32 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: