Continuing Bonds

New Vacancy: We are currently recruiting a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to work on the project, whose role will be project evaluation. Ideally starting in Sept 2016, the post is part-time (50%) for 23 months. Please see details here.

Continuing Bonds: Exploring the meaning and legacy of death through past and contemporary practice.
A new project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The Continuing Bonds Project, led by Karina Croucher in collaboration with Christina Faull at LOROS Hospice in Leicester, and Laura Middleton-Green in the Faculty of Health Studies at the University of Bradford, runs for 28 months from April 2016 and explores the use of archaeological case studies in opening up conversations around death and dying in the present. The project also involves two Post-Doctoral Researchers: one (Lindsey Büster) with an archaeological background and the other (yet to be appointed), with a specialism in health and social care.

Four themed workshops on: Images of the dead, Ancestors, Age and circumstances of death, and Memorialisation, will present archaeological and ethnographic case studies to health and social care professionals in Bradford and Leicester in each of the two years of the project – the second series being informed by feedback from the first.

The project will evaluate (using quantitative and qualitative methods) the value of using archaeology to challenge our modern perceptions of and attitudes towards death and dying, and as a vehicle through which people can begin to discuss their own mortality and their own end-of-life care. Though the workshops are primarily aimed as healthcare practitioners, fringe and spin-off events aimed at the wider public are planned, as is a closing workshop with school teachers.

The project is currently only a few months in to what will be an exciting journey for all involved and updates will be posted across our social media platforms (@CBondsStudy; #ContinuingBonds) as it progresses. Alternatively, and for more information, please email us on ContinuingBonds@bradford.ac.uk, and/or download the flyer (A5 Flyer- Project Info).