‘Exploring Narratives of Death’ (END): A case study of researcher experiences in studying dying, death and grief in an interdisciplinary setting

Abstract

ABSTRACT The field of death studies has a rich interdisciplinary history but little scholarship examining the process of interdisciplinary collaboration. The development of, and inquiry into, a more rigorously interdisciplinary death studies is a topical pursuit. The aim of this paper is to shed critical light on researcher experiences in an interdisciplinary collaboration on the topics of dying, death of grief, and examine what possibilities and challenges it prefaces for future interdisciplinary research in the field. An interdisciplinary study group called Exploring Narratives of Death (END) is examined over a period of one year through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The conclusion is that researchers strongly advocate for more interdisciplinary agendas in death studies in order to develop greater intellectual advancement in the field and/or practical application of research in society. However, a lack of structural and temporal latitude in researchers’ professional roles in the university could inhibit their ability to perform such research in the long term.