In January and February of 2023, in partnership with the Arizona State Museum, we hosted a series of online panel discussions around end-of-life themes. These programs complemented the exhibit, “Walking Each Other Home: Cultural Practices at End of Life,” which ran from September 2022 through February 2023 at the museum. The panel series was supported by AZ Humanities and AZ EOLCP and included the following discussions:
- Cultural Considerations at End of Life (Jan. 31, 2023): Dr. Maribel Alvarez, Jim Griffith Chair in Public Folklore at the University of Arizona, moderated a discussion with panelists Lynn Hourani, Muslim Community Alliance and Dr. Zhao Chen, UA College of Public Health, who responded to short ethnographic videos that document Muslim, Chinese, Jewish, and LGBTQI cultural expressions at the end of life.
- End-of-Life Caregiving/Homecare & Hospice vs Palliative Care (Feb. 7, 2023): Folklorist Kimi Eisele moderated a discussion with panelists Dr. Kimberly Shea, UA College of Nursing; Amalia Mora, SFA project ethnographer; Deborah Young, home caregiver, who shared stories about the occupational folklife of home caregivers and demystified the differences between hospice and palliative care.
- Planning for Death (Feb. 21, 2023): A discussion between Sarah Ascher, AZEOLCP, and Carla Sutter, AZ Healthcare Directives Registry, walking viewers through the process of completing advance care directives, discuss end of life care work and policy in AZ and reflect on the many ways AZEOLCP is “fundamentally changing the way we talk about and plan for death.” Understanding one’s cultural and family values is imperative when reflecting and thinking about what one might want in an advance care directive and how to discuss these desires with family members and the medical caregivers.
View all of the Walking Each Other Home Virtual Panel Series here.
(Cover photo: Susan M. Scheirman)
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