Yasmin Gunaratnam

Death and the Migrant: Bodies, Borders and Care Yasmin Gunaratnam

Marc Notes: Originally published: 2013.; This title considers the plight of the dying migrant as a situation that helps us to better understand some of the fundamental conditions of contemporary societies. The book aims to show how dislocated dying is very much a phenomena of our time, articulating foundational conundrums of community, belonging and citizenship. Biographical Note: Yasmin Gunaratnam is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology Department at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. She has been working on issues of race and gender equality in health and social care for the past twenty years at the Open University, Southampton University and the University of Central Lancashire. She is author of Researching Race and Ethnicity (2003) and has jointly edited Narratives and Stories in Health Care with David Oliviere (2009). Table of Contents: Contents 1 Death and the Migrant - An Introduction 1.1 Diasporic Dying 1.2 Hospice-tality and the geo-social 1.3 Mortal Chorographies 1.4 The Book 2 Eros 2.1 The promise 2.2 A Window 2.3 David 2.4 The Face 2.5 Dust and Guts 3 Thanatos 4 A Catch 4.1 Dirt 4.2 Paranoia 4.3 Comin throu the rye 4.4 Patience 5 Never Mind 5.1 Silver Lining 5.2 Les Fleurs du Mal 6 Dissimulation 6.1 Shock 6.2 Body Heat7 Moving On 7.1 Faith 8 Music 8.1 Noise 8.2 Hospitality 9 The Prince and the Pee 9.1 Tings 10 Failing/Falling 10.1 Inklings 10.2 The High Wire 10.3 Not-knowing 10.4 In the Skin of a Lion 11 Home 11.1 Body work 11.2 Slowly, Slowly 11.3 Genograms 11.4 A View 11.5 A Cough 12 Pain 12.1 Total Pain: 'all of me is wrong' 12.2 Case Stories 12.3 Being Affected to Learn 13 Epilogue: The Foreigner Question Sweet Chariot Geese - John Burnside 14 Appendix: Research and Methods Stories, Writing, Care List of illustrationsPublisher Marketing: "Death and the Migrant" is a sociological account of transnational dying and care in British cities. It chronicles two decades of the ageing and dying of the UK's cohort of post-war migrants, as well as more recent arrivals. Chapters of oral history and close ethnographic observation, enriched by photographs, take the reader into the submerged worlds of end-of-life care in hospices, hospitals and homes. While honouring singular lives and storytelling, "Death and the Migrant "explores the social, economic and cultural landscapes that surround the migrant deathbed in the twenty-first century. Here, everyday challenges - the struggle to belong, relieve pain, love well, and maintain dignity and faith " provide a fresh perspective on concerns and debates about the vulnerability of the body, transnationalism, care and hospitality. Blending narrative accounts from dying people and care professionals with insights from philosophy and feminist and critical race scholars, Yasmin Gunaratnam shows how the care of vulnerable strangers tests the substance of a community. From a radical new interpretation of the history of the contemporary hospice movement and its 'total pain' approach, to the charting of the global care chain and the affective and sensual demands of intercultural care, Gunaratnam offers a unique perspective on how migration endows and replenishes national cultures and care. Far from being a marginal concern, "Death and the Migrant" shows that transnational dying is very much a predicament of our time, raising questions and concerns that are relevant to all of us."

Contributor Bio:  Gunaratnam, Yasmin I joined the Department in 2008. Before that I was involved in research, teaching and training in Higher Education and in the voluntary sector. I have worked for the Open University, Southampton University and the University of Central Lancashire. My undergraduate degree in sociology is from the London School of Economics, where I also completed my PhD (Department of Social Policy). I am particularly interested in knowledge transfer and participative methodologies as they relate to both research and teaching (giving recognition to what we learn and how from students and colleagues).