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Place and grief – with Dominique Hes

Place and grief – with Dominique Hes

We were honored to receive Dominique Hes as a guest lecturer in our lab minor. Dr Dominique Hes is the award winning author of the book Designing for Hope: Pathways to regenerative sustainability, a further 6 books and over 100 papers. She was a non-executive board member at Greenfleet (planting ecosystems to offset carbon) and Trust for Nature; co-founder of internationally award winning Place Agency, and ex director of Thrive Research Hub at Melbourne University.

Dominque Hes visited our lab in Amsterdam-Noord at the Buikslotermeerplein, the area of research for our lab learners. This place is changing rapidly, which comes with pain and rejection of the new developments with a lot of locals, but for other people it’s not moving fast enough. The city is in transition. The city is changing.

Change is life
Dominique starts the session with explaining that change is part of life. Look around. The seasons are change, whether conditions like fire, flood or drought are change. We age, that is a constant change too. Needing to integrate new things and people in your city is change.  Growth is chance.

People generally don’t like things to change. They want things to stay the same. People adopt change at different speed. The innovator is looking constant for the “hot new thing”, but the laggards fear change the most and may never be able to imagine being happy in the new, changed place.

Grief is real
Grief is also part of life. It is everywhere. To introduce the topic of grief and the potential for finding common ground and enhancing local communities or urban tourism, we take a look how different cultures deal with grief through unique traditions. Some examples from around the world are:

New Orleans: Jazz Funeral

A Jazz Funeral in New Orleans is a unique blend of sorrow and celebration. The procession starts with a somber march to the cemetery, accompanied by a brass band playing mournful tunes. After the burial, the music shifts to upbeat jazz, and the mourners dance, celebrating the life of the deceased[3][4].

Korea: Chuseok

Chuseok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving, is a major harvest festival where families honor their ancestors. They visit ancestral graves, clean the tombstones, and offer food and drink. This tradition reflects deep respect for ancestors and a connection to family heritage[5][6].

Madagascar: Famadihana

Famadihana, or the “turning of the bones,” is a funerary tradition in Madagascar. Families exhume the bodies of their ancestors, rewrap them in fresh cloth, and dance with the corpses before reburial. This ceremony celebrates the deceased and strengthens family bonds[7][8].

Japan: Obon Festival

The Obon Festival in Japan is a Buddhist event where it is believed that the spirits of ancestors return to visit their families. People clean graves, offer food, and light lanterns to guide the spirits. The festival includes traditional dances and is a time for family reunions[9][10].

UK: Samhain

Samhain is an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. It is a time to honor the dead, with traditions including bonfires, feasts, and rituals to communicate with ancestors. Modern celebrations often include elements of Halloween[11][12].

China: Qingming

During the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, Chinese families visit the graves of their ancestors to clean the tombstones, offer food, and burn incense. This festival is a time to honor and remember the deceased, ensuring they are not forgotten[13][14].

Bali: Ngaben

Ngaben is a Balinese Hindu cremation ceremony. It is believed that cremation releases the soul from the body, allowing it to ascend to the afterlife and be reincarnated. The ceremony is elaborate, involving processions, music, and rituals to ensure the soul’s safe passage[15][16].

Mexico: Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a vibrant Mexican holiday where families honor their deceased loved ones with altars, offerings, and celebrations. It is a time to remember and celebrate the lives of the departed, with parades, music, and traditional foods[17][18].

Nepal: Gai Jatra

Gai Jatra, or the Festival of Cows, is celebrated in Nepal to honor those who have died in the past year. Families lead cows in a procession, believing that the cows will help guide the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. The festival also includes humor and satire to help ease the grief of loss[19][20].

Honoring the Past While Enabling the Future

These traditions show how different cultures honor their ancestors and cope with grief. By remembering and celebrating the lives of those who have passed, they maintain a connection to our heritage and ensure that the values and memories of the past continue to influence and enrich our future. Rather than focusing solely on mourning, several traditions celebrate the life of the deceased with music, dance, and festivities. These traditions often involve the community and family, providing support and strengthening bonds during times of grief. Rituals and offerings are common, serving as a way to honor the deceased and seek their blessings. Embracing these rituals can provide comfort and a sense of continuity, helping us navigate the complexities of life and death.

This highlight the universal human desire to remember and honor those who have passed, while also finding ways to celebrate their lives and maintain a connection with them. Each tradition offers unique insights into how different cultures cope with grief and loss. And how family and the local community offers support and comfort. Places are changing as well. Feelings of grief towards places are a real thing. And it could be an opportunity to adress this grief, share the feelings and connect with others that way.

Place grief workshop

As a student of (regenerative) placemaking, it is a good thing to be aware that these types of feelings exists. The grief for a place but also the opportunity to connect and engage and even dream for the future of the place as well.

Domonique Hes, Roos Gerritsma and Esther Bouw developed a workshop activity focused on creating a tangible object with the lab learners around the topic of place grief. Starting with thinking back to the journey of the communities they had visited and the transitions they face. Create a flag that represents the fears and grief of the place. In the next step participants create another flag with the potential, the “dream forward”, the irresistible possibilities, of the place. They can draw, write, color, what ever they see fit. Then we collect all the flag and put them next to each other to make a big (celebrational) bunting line.

Lab learner reflection

Would you like to dive into developing community engagement? Check out this teaching guide, developed by Dominique Hes: 4_0_TeachingGuide_Community_Engagement_Final

Want to know more about place grief?

As part of her “researcher in residence” role within our lab Dominique Hes (regenerative placemaking expert), Roos Gerritsma (lab lead ULTlab, associate lecturer Urban leisure & tourism, PD candidate) and Esther Bouw (researcher project “from grief to believe”, learning coach ULTlab & lecturer Leisure & Events Management) came up with the term “place grief”. It seems to be a new field of regenerative placemaking with a lot of potential.

We strive to dive into this topic more within the next year, and hope to develop more tools and workshops with a COECI funding.

References

19 december 2024