SFA’s End of Life: Continuum (EOL) project shares cultural knowledge about traditions, expressions, and practices associated with end of life, grief, mourning and death in Southern Arizona’s folk, ethnic, occupational, faith-based and alternative communities.
Current projects
Walking Each Other Home: Cultural Practices at End of Life
This exhibit at the Arizona State Museum runs September 10, 2022 – February 25, 2023 and shares stories and traditions that were documented as part of our End of Life: Continuum project supported by the Arizona End of Life Care Partnership with funds from the David and Lura Lovell Foundation.
End-of-Life Audio Stories
End-of-life (EOL) care is tender and important work, but end-of-life caregivers often go unseen and unheard. We’re working with Tucson Medical Center’s Palliative Care Department to gather stories from nurses and caregivers at end of life. Stories will be added to a community archive (in progress).
The Lives of End-of-Life Caregivers
Since early 2020, we’ve been working with a cohort five ethnographers to document the lives of five end-of-life caregivers in Southern Arizona. Their research aims to amplify stories and methods of end-of-life caregivers in order to demystify their work, share best cultural practices, reduce stigma, and connect audiences to end-of-life care planning options. Ethnographic findings will be shared here, in BorderLore, and in a special end-of-life exhibit at the Arizona State Museum in 2022.
Past Projects
EOL Practices in Southern Arizona: Gatherings & Videos
In 2019, as part of our Continuum: End of Life program, SFA facilitated a series of community gatherings, which were guided by local hosts and included a meal, conversation, and education about end-of-life practices, rituals, and traditions. While these gatherings were private, these videos offer a mini-ethnography of several key community members to illuminate some of the practices and traditions shared. Films and gatherings made possible with support from the Shaaron Kent Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The David and Lura Lovell Foundation.
The Southwest Folklife Alliance is a partner in the Arizona End of Life Care Partnership, a growing network of organizations and individuals committed to ensuring quality of life at every stage through education, support, sound policy and choices.
EOL Publications
Since 2014, the EOL project has developed materials documenting local traditions associated with death and dying, including interviews, photos, citizen reports, and a list of national and community resources.
Finding Refuge:The Comforts of Culture in Grief, Trauma, Death and End of Life for Refugees resettled in Southern Arizona. (June 2018)
International Border: End-of-Life in Tucson’s Mexican Immigrant Communities(May 2018)
Cruzando Fronteras: Enfoques sobre el final de la vida en la comunidad inmigrantes mexicanos en Tucson (May 2018)
Arriving in the Light: End-of-Life in Southern Arizona’s Muslim Communities (February 2018)
Folklife Well Seasoned: End-of-Life Approaches & Traditions of Elders Living Alone (Oct. 2017)
Continuum End of Life Booklets (4), May 2016
Continuum Journal, May 2015
Continuum Resources Listing and Workbook, May 2015
VozFrontera