A Journey Chronicling Memories of Grief and Loss
Abstract
Abstract
Storytelling is a natural and necessary human behavior. Stories connect us to our
past, our present, and, most importantly, to each other. They tease our imaginations
and stir our emotions. Certain stories are gifts to those who listen. Such is the
case with those gifted to me on this journey exploring the grief and loss of motherless
daughters. Inspired by a photograph of my grandmother, the story of her death after
childbirth, and my own mother’s lifetime sadness over having lost her mother when
she was very young, I conducted audio interviews with women in similar situations.
I interviewed women, like myself, whose mothers lost their mothers. I also interviewed
women who themselves were left motherless at a young age. In this paper, these separate
stories are connected within the overarching story of my personal journey to find,
listen to, and document them. I also include my own reflections on grief and loss
in the context of the story of my mother and grandmother. Within the stories, I have
interspersed treasured photographs and written memorabilia. I conclude the paper with
a description and analysis of my process: the preparatory research, the training in
audio interviewing and documentary, my approach to the interview process (including
the failures, successes, and surprises along the way), and my conclusions about what
I learned and accomplished as I pursued and completed the project.
A twenty-minute audio documentary titled Conversations: Mothers and Mother Loss accompanies
this written work. In the documentary, culled from sixteen hours of audio interviews,
the nine women who lost their mothers at early ages or whose mothers lost their mothers
at early ages grant us intimate connection with their stories through their voices.
Type
Capstone projectDepartment
Graduate Liberal StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17211Citation
Shanahan, Maryanne (2018). A Journey Chronicling Memories of Grief and Loss. Capstone project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17211.Collections
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