Immigrants Coping with Transnational Deaths and Bereavement: The Influence of Migratory Loss and Anticipatory Grief

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12336
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Olena Nesteruk

Immigrants Coping with Transnational Deaths and

Bereavement: The Influence of Migratory Loss and

Anticipatory Grief

OLENA NESTERUK

This study examines immigrants’ experiences of bereavement and coping with the

deaths of family members in a transnational context. Data were collected through in-

depth personal interviews with middle-aged and older immigrants from different

countries of origin, who have been living in the United States for a majority of their

adult lives. Thematic analysis of participants’ narratives showed that immigrants’

geographic distance from family complicated caregiving circumstances and rituals

surrounding burial, and impacted the grieving process. At the same time, this dis-

tance also served as an emotional barrier and provided protection from prolonged

grief. Immigrants’ U.S.-based family and work responsibilities served as buf fers from

prolonged grief. Over time, immigrants became Americanized in their attitudes toward

coping with death and favored a fast return to productive activities. Finally, immi-

grants’ experience of migratory loss and anticipatory grief early in immigration, along

with their personal growth and resilience developed over time, impacted their bereave-

ment experiences later in life. Considering the limitations and the exploratory nature

of the present study, further research is needed to investigate the specifics of coping

with loss and bereavement among immigrants.

Keywords: Transnational bereavement; Migratory loss and mourning; Anticipatory grief;

Older immigrants

Fam Proc 57:1012–1028, 2018

The experience of migration is associated with multiple losses and discontinuities in

family relations that persist throughout the life course. As increasing numbers of

immigrants enter middle and old age in their host countries, they encounter a variety

of developmental tasks typical for later adulthood, one of which is mourning the deaths of

parents and extended kin. How do immigrants cope with transnational deaths and grieve

losses in origin countries while living in their adoptive country? What is the impact of

immigrants’ experience with migratory loss and mourning earlier in life on the way they

grieve later in life?

Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Olena Nesteruk, Department of Family

Science and Human Development, 4036 University Hall, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave.,

Montclair, NJ 07043. E-mail: nesteruko@mail.montclair.edu.

I am grateful to the individuals who took part in this study and shared their time and experiences. I also

wish to thank Christine A. Price and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts

of this article.

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Family Process, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2018 ©2017 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12336

LITERATURE REVIEW

Migratory Grief, Loss, and Mourning in Immigration

Following geographic relocation, migrants deal with multiple losses that include the

loss of homeland, familiar environment, native language, the company of their family as

well as more abstract losses of identity, social status, and social roles (Henry , Stiles, &

Biran, 2005; Ward & Styles, 2005; Winbush & Selby, 2015). The loss of any of these is sub-

stantial enough to bring about intense grief and require an emotional adjustment (Casado,

Hong, & Harrington, 2010). In response to these accumulated losses, immigrants experi-

ence a sense of grief that is similar to grief associated with the death of loved ones (Parkes,

1996). Migration loss is both larger and smaller than death: larger because it brings a vari-

ety of losses as listed above, and smaller because these losses are not irretrievable (Fali-

cov, 2002).

There is emerging literature on “migratory grief”—mostly qualitative studies that

examine grief in immigration and bereavement from the loss of the home country (e. g.,

Miller & Gonzalez, 2009), culture loss and mourning in immigration (Henry et al., 2005;

Winbush & Selby, 2015), strategies used to negotiate the grieving process postmigration

and form a new identity (Ward & Styles, 2003, 2005), as well as the development of scales

to measure migratory grief and loss (Casado et al., 2010). The experience of being an

immigrant has been compared with that of being a widow(er), as both have to adjust to a

new life without their significant family members (Disman, 1983). Linking immigrants

and other grieving people, Disman (1983) shows that an immigrant’s experience is an

instance of the grief experience, a finding supported by other studies that applied Parkes’s

grief framework (1996) to loss and mourning in immigration with different populations

and countries (Casado et al., 2010; Miller & Gonzalez, 2009; Ward & Styles, 2003). Thus,

migratory grief and homesickness are found to follow the grieving process proposed by

Parkes (1996) from (a) numbness to (b) searching and pining, which lead to (c) disorgani-

zation and despair, and, finally, (d) recovery and reorganization, when a new identity is

formed.

The final stage of reorganization, when a bereaved person (i.e., migrant grieving multi-

ple migration losses) forms a new identity, was examined by Ward and Styles (2003) in

their study of U.K. women who immigrated to Australia. As a result of leaving the home-

land, experiencing the challenges of migration and having to meet new demands, th e rein-

vention of the self occurred. The majority of the women in the study reported experiencing

personal growth—feeling more independent, confident, and stronger—because they were

able to survive in a new environment without family and social support. This reinven tion

of the “new me” instilled new emotional strength and self-sufficiency in immigrants (Ward

& Styles, 2003). Similar findings of personal growth and development of the new identity

came out of Miller and Gonzalez’s (2009) study of Hispanic immigrant women in the Uni-

ted States. These researchers also found support for applying Parkes’s (1996) grief frame-

work to migration losses and grief experienced by immigrants.

A distinction is commonly made between two types of losses: (a) physical (tangible) loss

of loved ones or personal possessions; and (b) symbolic (abstract loss) of status, social role,

identity, as well as the loss of native language, homeland, and familiar environment. The

abstract losses are often not recognized by society. Immigrants’ grief expressions over cul-

tural and personal losses are often dismissed, while there is a strong expectation that they

rapidly adjust to their host country (Casado et al., 2010). In consequence, the expe rience

of migratory grief is similar to disenfranchised grief (Doka, 1989)—grieving the losses that

are not openly acknowledged, socially validated, or publicly mourned. In a study of Colom-

bian immigrants in the United States, Perry (2010) examined several manifestations of

migratory grief, demonstrating how migratory grief is an example of disenfranch ised grief.

Fam. Proc., Vol. 57, December, 2018

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