Repatriationscapes: death and repatriation of human remains among African diaspora. A study into selected cases in London (UK)

研究背景大多数当代关于死亡、丧亲、悲伤和损失的研究都从不同的西方和欧洲中心的角度来探讨这些主题。非中心主义的观点被忽视了。因此，现有文献中存在知识差距，在英国少数族裔移民人口中造成了一些关于死亡问题的模棱两可的问题。我的博士项目旨在探索在英国的非洲侨民中的死亡和遣返人类遗骸，以及它是如何在移民背景下被框定的。这个项目遵循了我的硕士论文，将人类遗骸作为南威尔士纽波特冈比亚社区文化归属的一个方面进行遣返。这一发现是在2020年9月初在约克大学举行的死亡与文化111会议上发表的一篇论文中提出的。遣返图景是一个理论术语，我用来指研究遗体遣返回国过程的框架。该框架假定，移徙背景使概念观点交织在一起的棱镜永久化，但也在跨越国界的地方分离。散居在英国的非洲人的移民背景是多层面和复杂的。因此，我认为移民不太关注参与者的法律地位。我的核心主张是，遗体遣返是一种多层次的仪式形式，设定在《仪式过程》(Turner，1969)中，描述性地说，是在成人的葬礼仪式中。我的项目重点是将集体中的个别案件转变为最近死亡的人。散居海外的非洲人采用一种“特定的参照系”，这种参照系源于他们个人和集体对死亡的概念认识，尽管他们各有不同。选定的案例将用来描述遣返情况的更广泛的视角。然而，非洲散居社区不能同质化。目的1.2.调查当代社会学对非洲侨民死亡和遣返遗骸的叙述，以确定它是如何纳入移徙范畴的。从不同的角度了解可能决定在英国的非洲侨民悲痛期间的慰藉趋势的因素。目标1.确定在英国的非洲侨民之间如何谈判死亡，而不是在他们的原籍国如何处理死亡。说明遗体遣返如何代表丧失亲人的侨民、死者以及死者在母国的关系。为了展示从不同角度对死亡和遣返情况的概念性理解如何挑战英国非洲侨民同质化的趋势。应用和好处我的研究并列了一些关于多文化结构在死亡和丧亲的主导话语中塑造社会和文化态度的作用的概念。这将有助于编写关于全球移徙的多学科文献，这可能会对非洲侨民的同质化构成挑战。与会者将阐明他们的相互联系如何超越遣返中假定的障碍，以重申他们的身份和文化归属。困难的语言培训：死亡仪式更有可能在本国用部落语言设定和进行。我需要培训来提高我的基本斯瓦希里语，以便在坦桑尼亚进行实地考察。海外实地考察：身体遣返将学习地点扩展到本国。我希望能到国外去做实地考察。英国侨民协会将通过咨询和网络提供指导。海外机构访问我希望进行海外机构访问以建立网络，为我与其他死亡学者合作的研究传播创造平台。

Research Context Most contemporary studies on death, bereavement, grief, and loss have approached the topics from diverse Western and Eurocentric perspectives. Afrocentric perspectives have been ignored. As a result, there is a knowledge gap in the existing literature creating some ambiguity on death matters among minority migrant populations in the UK.My PhD project is designed to explore death and repatriation of human remains among African diaspora in the UK and how it is framed within the migration context. This project follows my MSc thesis into the repatriation of human remains as aspect of cultural belonging among the Gambian community in Newport South Wales. The findings were presented in a paper at the Death and Culture 111 conference at the University of York early September 2020. Repatriationscapes is a theoretical term I use to refer to the framework for studying the process of body repatriation to the home country. The framework assumes that the migration context perpetuates a prism through which conceptual perspectives are interwoven but also separated in places across borders. The migration context of African diaspora in the UK is multi-dimensional and complex. Therefore, I consider migration with less focus on legal status of the participants.My core claim is that body repatriation is a multi-layered form of ritual set in 'The Ritual Process'(Turner, 1969), descriptively, within the funerary rites of passage. My project focuses on individual cases in the collective into the recent dead. The African diaspora apply a "specific frame of reference" emanating from their conceptual perception of death both individually and collectively despite their diversity. Selected cases will be used to describe wider perspectives in repatriationscapes. However, African diasporic communities cannot be homogenized. Aims1. To investigate the contemporary sociological narratives on death and repatriation of human remains among African diaspora to establish how it is framed within migration context.2. To understand the factors that may determine consolation trends during grief among African diaspora in the UK within diverse perspectives. Objectives1. To establish how death is negotiated among African diaspora in the UK in contrast with how death is dealt within their countries of origin.2. To contextualize how body repatriation represents the bereaved diaspora, the deceased, and the relations of the deceased in the home country.3. To demonstrate how the conceptual understanding of death and repatriationscapes from diverse perspectives can challenge the tendencies of homogenization of African diaspora in the UK.Applications and benefitsMy study juxtaposes some concepts on the role of multi-cultural structures in shaping social and cultural attitudes within a dominant discourse in death and bereavement. This will contribute towards multi-disciplinary literature on global migration which might challenge homogenization of African diaspora. Participants will articulate how their interconnectedness transcends the assumed barriers in repatriationscapes to reiterate their identity and cultural belonging. Also, prompting academic interest into transnational cross-border scholarship in repatriationscapes.Difficult Language Training: Death rituals are more likely to be set and performed in tribal languages in the native countries. I will need training to improve my basic Kiswahili language for field work in Tanzania.Overseas Fieldwork: Body repatriation spreads the location of study over to the home country. I hope to travel overseas to conduct field work. The UK diaspora associations will offer guidance through consultation and networking.Overseas Institutional VisitsI hope to undertake overseas institutional visits for networking, creating platform for my research dissemination in collaboration with other death scholars.