What is Dying Matters Awareness Week?

Dying Matters Awareness Week is an annual event seeking to stimulate conversation within the community concerning questions of death, grief, and bereavement. Talking about death has traditionally been viewed as a taboo topic that prompts an uncomfortable reaction; however, as Hospice UK the organisers of Dying Matters believe, it needn't be this way. Their mission is to get communities talking about issues surrounding death in any way that works for them.

This year, the University of Bath's Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) will further this mission by hosting a series of activities designed to encourage engagement and reflection on these issues together with the community.

Dying Matters Awareness Week will take place from 2 - 6 May

CDAS Dying Matters Programme of Events

Tuesday, 3 May - 7PM - 8PM BST - 'Natural Death in Care Homes: The Line Between Non-Intervention and Neglect'

For this year's Beatrice Godwin Memorial lecture, CDAS is proud to present Dr Diana Teggi as she discusses end of life care in care homes. Drawing on Diana’s PhD ethnography, this lecture will examine how dying is managed within the care home environment from the perspective of staff, asking the most basic question: can there ever be such a thing as a ‘natural death’ in a care home?

This lecture is delivered in memory of Beatrice Godwin, a PhD student at Bath who sadly passed away following a battle with Lymphoma during the course of her studies.

Tickets and more info. This is a free event.

Wednesday, 4 May - 6PM - 9PM BST - 'Home' Film Screening and Q&A with Sarah Outen MBE

Sarah’s expeditioning career started in her early twenties when, following the death of her father, she readied herself to tackle an ocean row to raise money for Arthritis charities in his name. And at the age of just 24, Sarah spent 124 days alone at sea rowing from Australia to Mauritius to become the first woman, and youngest person ever, to row solo across the Indian Ocean.

In her film 'Home', Sarah documents her London 2 London: Via the World expedition, a four-year odyssey which saw her travel for over 20,000 miles around the world. Woven from hundreds of hours of filmed footage from the expedition, Home intimately and unflinchingly captures Sarah’s journeys: the kindness of strangers, the wonders of the wild, the savagery of the elements, the near-death experiences, the demons of her emotional trauma and PTSD, and her love for her wife Lucy.

Following the screening, Sarah will be taking questions from the audience. There will also be a book stand where she will be selling and signing her books.

Tickets and more info
Tickets are £15, or students and the unwaged can obtain a 50% discount using a code (provided to select student societies or by contacting CDAS). A wine reception is included in the cost of the ticket.

Thursday, 5 May - 5PM - 6PM BST - CDAS InConversation with Dr Kami Fletcher and George Gumisiriza

Titled 'Death Politics: How does resilience expose the inequalities in the face of social change?', this lecture examines the idea of 'moving on' regarding grief after loss. 'Moving on' is often power-imbued; it perpetuates inequalities within established margins in death politics. Resilience is expected of the survivors regardless.
In this InConversation, Dr Kami Fletcher and George Gumisiriza will converse and reflect on (overly)simplistic approaches of dismissal in death matters and how they affect particular groups in society.

Tickets and more info. This is a free event.