Abstract
Losing a loved one is inevitably a stressful life event. But the experience of bereavement and
mourning remains unique to each individual. Extensive research exists on the phenomenon of
loss and bereavement. However, most literature explored loss and bereavement from a Western
perspective. In a similar vein, death and bereavement have generally been theorised based on
assumptions and realities of Euro-American social worlds. It therefore failed to capture the
realities of other social worlds, including that of the African voice. Cross-cultural studies have
revealed that the way in which individuals perceive and respond to death and display grief may
be determined by cultural beliefs, traditions and mourning behaviours. For example, in most
African cultures, a widow is expected to comply with certain mourning practices as a way of
showing respect for her late husband and to avoid future bad luck. As such, widowhood
presents a number of difficulties for the surviving spouse. Amongst others, isolation and
discrimination inherent to these cultural mourning rituals may burden the widow with
psychological wounds. While the initial intent of these rituals may have been to aid in the
healing of widows, these traditionally patterned ways of grief seem to hinder adaptation to loss.
This is because widows tend to focus more on meeting the cultural demands and expectations
of expressing grief, rather than on their emotional processing of the loss. Given the above, it
becomes important to understand other aspects of death and cultural practices in the indigenous
South African context. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore African experiences of
cultural beliefs and the experience of a South African widow during the process of mourning...
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)