The Cultural Context of Dying Hawai’ian Death Conceptions and The Gender Divide

People ascribe a different meaning to dying and, therefore, approach their own death or grief for the other in various ways. Such approaches are the product of the intersection of people’s identities and experience; these go part and parcel with the way individuals view the world. Consequently, to be cared for when dying or grieving requires concrete knowledge and understanding of own identities from the professionals’ perspectives. In this premise, by means of a survey (n=55) and interviewing (n=10), the present paper reports on empirical data from Hawai`i about death conceptions and the gender divide. The study concludes that men and women share many conceptions about death but differ based on what constitutes normative grief and how it is expressed. This information adds to the knowledge held by helping professions like social work, counselling and psychology, with the aim to advance evidence that informs practice with the dying and/or bereaved from this background.

Keywords – culture, dying, gender, grief, Hawai’i.