Friendship Orphanhood
Visual Narratives of Immigration, Cultural Bereavement, and Disenfranchised Grief in the Pursuit of Meaning, Equity, and Inclusion
Keywords:
disenfranchised grief, immigration, friendshipAbstract
This article emerges from the profound experience of losing my best friend, Annie - the loss that reshaped my identity as a person, clinician, and researcher. Though the grief remains vivid, time has allowed me to deeply connect with what I describe as the emotional state of “friendship orphanhood” and to explore the transformative potential of loss. Through a blend of personal autoethnographic and visual narratives, this article invites readers into a journey of meaning reconstruction following loss. It sheds light on the often-overlooked realities of non-kinship grief, examining the complex interplay between migratory losses and the death of a close friend while navigating life in Western Society. Through a critical lens, this paper delves into the social construction of grief in a contemporary context, shaped by deeply internalized values of capitalism, productivity, and youth. These norms function as mechanisms of compliance that uphold the interests of the dominant group, producing a distinct form of oppression that marginalizes immigrant friends as less recognized mourners.
The discussion is grounded in constructivist, disenfranchised grief, and cultural bereavement theoretical frameworks, as well as art-based methods. It presents a method that uses expressive narratives and art to externalize inner realities and support healing through cohesive meaning-making in loss.
Offering a glimpse into the silenced grief of immigrant friendships, this work contributes to scholarly and professional discourse by proposing new ways to understand, restore, and repair fragmented life stories. It underscores the urgency of acknowledging these often-voiceless bereavement experiences while addressing social injustice, confronting systemic oppression, and advocating for grief diversity.
References
Ackerman, J., Kenrick, D., & Schaller, M. (2007). Is friendship akin to kinship? Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(5), 365–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.04.004
Akhtar, S. (2009). Friendship, socialization, and the immigrant experience. In S. Akhtar (Ed.), Good Feelings: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Positive Attitudes and Emotions (pp. 267-274). Karnac Books.
Amineh, R., & Davatgari Asl, H. (2015). Review of constructivism and social constructivism. Journal of Social Sciences, Literature and Languages, 1(1), 9-16. Available at jssll.blue-ap.org
Anison, M., & Merali, N. (2018). Latino immigrant parents’ experiences raising young children in the absence of extended family networks in Canada: Implications for counselling. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 31(4), 408–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2017.1324760
Arnason, A., & Hafsteinsson, S. B. (2018). Death and governmentality in Iceland: Neo-liberalism, grief and the nation-form. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(4), 442–457. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549416640554
Attig, T. (2004). Disenfranchised grief revisited: Discounting hope and love. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 49(3), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.2190/P4TT-J3BF-KFDR-5JB1
Barros-Lane, L., Alvarez-Rodriguez, V., Cornelius, V., & Smith, V. (2025). “Grief lasts longer than sympathy”: Qualitatively examining disenfranchised grief in young widowhood. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 30(2), 123–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2024.2324273
Beauregard, C., Papazian-Zohrabian, G., & Rousseau, C. (2017a). Connecting identities through drawing: Identity expression in images drawn by immigrant students. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 56, 83-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2017.08.003
Beauregard, C. (2020). Being in between: Exploring cultural bereavement and identity expression through drawing. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 15(3), 292–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2019.1702131
Bensoussan, R. (2024). Human (e): A Radical Reimagining of Grief, Loss and Learning to Live Without. Demeter Press.
Bhugra, D., & Becker, M. (2005). Migration, cultural bereavement and cultural identity. World Psychiatry: Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 4(1), 18-24.
Breen, L. J., Kawashima, D., Joy, K., Cadell, S., & Macdonald, M. E. (2022). Grief literacy: A call to action for compassionate communities. Death Studies, 46(2), 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1739780
Brookfield, S. D. (2005). The power of critical theory: Liberating adult learning and teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Cacciatore, J. (2017). Bearing the unbearable: Love, loss, and the heartbreaking path of grief. Wisdom Publications.
Cesur-Soysal, G., & Ari, E. (2024). How we disenfranchise grief for self and other: An empirical study. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 89(2), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221075203
Chilton, G., & Scotti, V. (2014). Snipping, gluing, writing: The properties of collage as an arts based research practice in art therapy. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 31(4), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2015.963484
Crosley, S. (2024). Grief is for people. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Doka, K. (1989). Disenfranchised grief: Recognizing hidden sorrow. D.C. Health and Company.
Doka, K. (1999). Disenfranchised grief. Bereavement Care, 18(3), 37–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02682629908657467
Eisenbruch, M. (1988). The mental health of refugee children and their cultural development. The International Migration Review, 22, 282-300. https://doi.org/10.2307/2546651
Eisenbruch, M. (1991). From post-traumatic stress disorder to cultural bereavement: Diagnosis of Southeast Asian refugees. Social Science & Medicine, 33, 673-680. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(91)90021-4
Hall, C. (2014). Bereavement theory: recent developments in our understanding of grief and bereavement. Bereavement Care, 33(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/02682621.2014.902610
Harris, D. (2009). Oppression of the bereaved: A critical analysis of grief in Western society. Omega, 60(3), 241–253. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.60.3.c
Jaffe, S. (2021). Work won't love you back: How devotion to our jobs keeps us exploited, exhausted, and alone. Bold Type Books.
Johnsen, I., Mikkelsen, J., Opheim, A., & Gjestad, R. (2023). To lose a friend: The relationship between professional help and grief among close bereaved friends after the terror attack, 22 July 2011. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(2), Article 2264118. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2264118
Jonsson, A., & Walter, T. (2017). Continuing bonds and place. Mortality, 22(4), 333-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2017.1340710
Keisari, S., Piol, S., Elkarif, T., Mola, G., & Testoni, I. (2022). Crafting life stories in photocollage: An online creative art-based intervention for older adults. Behavioral Sciences, 12(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12010001
Kim, S., & Feyissa, I. F. (2021). Conceptualizing “family” and the role of “chosen family” within the LGBTQ+ refugee community: A text network graph analysis. Healthcare, 9(4), 369. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9040369
Liu, W.-M., Forbat, L., & Anderson, K. (2019). Death of a close friend: Short and long-term impacts on physical, psychological, and social well-being. PLOS ONE, 14(4), Article e0214838. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214838
Macdonald, M. E. (2020). The denial of grief: Reflections from a decade of anthropological research on parental bereavement and child death. In M. H. Jacobsen & A. Petersen (Eds.), Exploring grief: Towards a sociology of sorrow (pp. 125–149). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429266467
Neimeyer, R. A., Klass, D., & Dennis, M. R. (2014). A social constructionist account of grief: Loss and the narration of meaning. Death Studies, 38(8), 485–498. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2014.913454
Neimeyer, R. A. (2020). What’s new in meaning reconstruction? Advancing grief theory and practice. The Australian Journal of Grief and Bereavement, 23(1), 4–9.
Nelson, K., Lukawiecki, J., Waitschies, K., Jackson, E., & Zivot, C. (2024). Exploring the impacts of an art and narrative therapy program on participants' grief and bereavement experiences.
OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying, 90(2), 726–745. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221111726
Ord, R. (2009). It’s like a tattoo: Rethinking dominant discourses on grief. Canadian Social Work Review, 26(2), 195-210.
Poole, J., & Galvan, C. (2021). Grief supremacy: On grievability, whiteness and not being #allinthistogether. In N. Brooks & S. Blanchette (Eds.), Narrative art and the politics of health (pp. 63–83). Anthem Press.
Robson, P., & Walter, T. (2012). Hierarchies of loss: A critique of disenfranchised grief. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 66(2), 97–119. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.66.2.A
Schulman, R. (2009). Commentary on friendship. In S. Akhtar (Ed.), Good Feelings: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Positive Attitudes and Emotions (pp. 267–274). Karnac Books.
Simpson, J. E. (2013). Grief and loss: A social work perspective. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 18(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2012.684569
Thompson, B., & Neimeyer, R. (Eds.). (2014). Grief and the expressive arts: Practices for creating meaning. Routledge.
Wier, J., & McCloskey, E. (2020). Implementing creative methods in baby loss research: Exploring stillbirth bereaved parents’ journeys through collage. QMiP Bulletin, 30(Autumn), 51-61.
Wood, W., & Williamson, J. (2003). Historical changes in the meaning of death in the Western tradition. In C. D. Bryant (Ed.), Handbook of death and dying (Vol. 1, pp. 14-23).
Yankovich, G. (2024). Friendship First: From New Sparks to Chosen Family, How Our Friends Pave the Way for Lifelong Happiness. Experiment.
