From 2014 to 2023, SFA’s End of Life: Continuum program documented and curated public programming around the traditions, expressions, and practices that surround death, grief, and mourning across Southern Arizona’s diverse communities. Drawing on folk, ethnic, faith-based, occupational, and alternative traditions, the program created space for conversations that are too often absent from public life.
Past Projects
The Lives of End-of-Life Caregivers
In 2020-2021, we worked 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 are shared here and in a special end-of-life exhibit at the Arizona State Museum.
Walking Each Other Home: Cultural Practices at End of Life
This 2022-2023 exhibit at the Arizona State Museum shared 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. Download the Walking Each Other Home booklet featuring some of the exhibit material here (for print) and view the ONLINE EXHIBIT here.
Walking Each Other Home Virtual Panel Series
In 2023, the Arizona State Museum hosted a series of virtual panel discussions on Cultural Considerations at End of Life , End-of-Life Caregiving/Homecare & Hospice vs Palliative Care, and Planning for Death. All recordings can be viewed online here. The series was supported by AZ Humanities and AZ EOLCP.
End-of-Life Cultural Practices in Southern Arizona
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.
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.
Taste & Remembrance
Stories and information about the role of food traditions in ritual aspects of mourning and death.
Remedies, Ritual, & Wisdom
Stories and information about the role of plants, folk remedies, science, and elder wisdom in ritual aspects of mourning and death.
Shrines, Markers, & Adornment in End of Life
Stories and information about the role of adornment and decoration in ritual aspects of mourning and death
Finality: Formal Faith & Beyond
Stories and information about both formal religious and alternative ways we seek comfort in end of life.
Click the images to download our publications. Each publication is 4MB.
Additional publications for download:
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 Journal, May 2015
Continuum Resources Listing and Workbook, May 2015
The Southwest Folklife Alliance was 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. Our End of Life work was supported by the David and Lura Lovell Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
