title: Experiencing Loss: A Muslim Widow's Bereavement Narrative.
abstract: In this article, we explore how Islam, minority status and refugee experiences intersect in shaping meaning-making processes following bereavement. We do this through a phenomenological analysis of a biographical account of personal loss told by Aisha, a Muslim Palestinian refugee living in Denmark, who narrates her experience of losing her husband to lung cancer. By drawing on a religious framework, Aisha creates meaning from her loss, which enables her to incorporate this loss into her life history and sustain agency. Her narrative invites wider audiences to witness her tale of overcoming loss, thus highlighting the complex way in which religious beliefs, minority status and migration history come together in shaping meaning-making processes, and the importance of reciprocity in narrative studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar. makk@sund.ku.dk.|Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity, and Health, and Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. makk@sund.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2319-3637
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kristiansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Tarek
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Younis
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Amani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassani
authors.affiliation: Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.|Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
mesh_terms: D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology; D001601:Bereavement; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology*; D008877:Middle East / Q000208:ethnology; D033262:Narration; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D017805:Widowhood / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Bereavement; Grief; Islam; Narratives; Religion