Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
953721 Social Science & Medicine 2007 11 Pages PDF
Abstract
This study explores Yemenite-Jewish wailing as an example of how a traditional community copes with bereavement in contemporary Israel. Observations of wailing events and interviews with Yemenite-Israeli wailers and mourners are analyzed in order to understand the respondents' perceptions of wailing as a psychotherapeutic expertise and experience. These findings are further used to substantiate a theoretical reconsideration of models of bereavement, exploring the interplay between the modern, self-centered, and detached psychological model (the “clinical lore”) and the traditional, other-oriented, and continuous anthropological model (the “wailing lore”). The article concludes by discussing criticisms of the Western psychotherapeutic paradigm as it relates to bereavement and asking where a mourning ritual such as wailing fits into our understanding of the subjective experiences of grief.
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