Like a mother bird who findeth her chicks gone from the nest: an autoethnography of the grief in covid-19 pandemics

Authors

  • Cleonardo Mauricio Junior Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9789/2525-3050.2026.v11n21.e14016

Keywords:

Covid-19, Grief, Daily live, Autoethnography

Abstract

This paper addresses the traumatic specificities of losing a loved one during the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. How do people who have gone through this experience cope with grief in their daily lives? Based on an autobiographical account in dialogue with the social sciences, especially Anthropology, I want to answer this question by emphasizing the difficulties of carrying on with a grieving life amidst a health crisis. I will address the confrontation with what I call the moral economy of covid-19 deaths, when we face tacit or manifest constraints on expressions of grief amidst the deprivation of the collective experience of grief, its community recognition, and the suppression of funeral and farewell rites. I also intend for this text to serve as a memorial to those who died from covid-19, contributing to a repertoire of support and consolation for those who have gone through this critical event.

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Author Biography

Cleonardo Mauricio Junior, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

Doutor em Antropologia pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Pesquisador de Pós-doutorado no Museu Nacional, UFRJ. Bolsista do Pós-doutorado Nota 10 da FAPERJ. CV: https://lattes.cnpq.br/8257727698456026

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Published

2025-12-26

How to Cite

Mauricio Junior, C. . (2025). Like a mother bird who findeth her chicks gone from the nest: an autoethnography of the grief in covid-19 pandemics. Revista M. Estudos Sobre a Morte, Os Mortos E O Morrer, 11(21), e14016. https://doi.org/10.9789/2525-3050.2026.v11n21.e14016