Gendered endings: Narratives of male and female suicides in the South African Lowveld

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11013-012-9258-y. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.Durkheim’s classical theory of suicide rates being a negative index of social solidarity downplays the salience of gendered concerns in suicide. But gendered inequalities have had a negative impact: worldwide significantly more men than women perpetrate fatal suicides. Drawing on narratives of 52 fatal suicides in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, this article suggests that Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘masculine domination’ provide a more appropriate framework for understanding this paradox. I show that the thwarting of investments in dominant masculine positions have been the major precursor to suicides by men. Men tended to take their own lives as a means of escape. By contrast, women perpetrated suicide to protest against the miserable consequences of being dominated by men. However, contra the assumption of Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, the narrators of suicide stories did reflect critically upon gender constructs

JNDS, Volume 3, Number 2

Abstract: "The texts of three near-death experiences, one vision, and one dream by Melanesian villagers are presented and analyzed with regard to their cultural context. Comparison of these experiences with those reported from North America and India suggests that while they have common features (such as the appearance of apparitions, and visions of paradise), their interpretation is structured by cultural expectations.

The good, the bad, and the unresolved death in Kaliai

Lusi-Kaliai speakers in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea consider death to be either good or bad depending on whether it is the consequence of bad social relationships and causes social upheaval. A good death is under the control of the dying person and is the result of the natural process of aging. Good deaths are the ideal, but are rare in Kaliai. Bad death is more common and implies a rupture of social relations and results in the destruction of peace and social order. A death may be unresolved because people disagree as to its cause and its meaning for others. Strife resulting from an unresolved death may be irreparable, making closure impossible. The resulting social dysfunction can lead to further death and the breakdown of the community. However, when people understand the cause of death and can identify the causative agent, it is possible to resolve the problems leading to the death and restore order. Case studies illustrate how particular deaths fit these categories and how the people of Kaliai struggle to explain death, to cope with its inevitability, and to repair the social disruption in its wake.Papua New Guinea Good death Bad death Social relations