Current Projects
Conference: Death, Dying and Disposal (DDD9 and DDD10)
The ninth meeting of the Death Dying and Disposal Conference (DDD9) was hosted by the Centre at Durham September 9th - 12th 2009 with approximetaly 200 delegates, forty percent of them from outside the UK. The Book of Abstracts edited by Douglas J. Davies and James Jirtle is published as Volume 14 Supplement to the journal Mortality September 2009. A book of selected papers on the topic of Emotions, Death and Identity is to be published in 2011.
The Tenth DDD Conference was held in September 9th-11th 2011 at The Centre for Thanatology Radbout University Nijmegen. It included the showing of the film Earth to Earth: Natural Burial and The Church of England . Both of these spoke to the film which was given a second showing by popular request. Members of the Centre's Cremation in Scotland team (see below) also made a significant contribution to this conference by presenting a panel on this Leverhulme funded project.
Film
During late 2010 the Centre commissioned a film on its woodland burial project. Funded both by the Centre and Durham University's Wolfson Research Institute this film Earth to Earth: Natural Burial and The Church of England was made by a former Durham University graduate Sarah Thomas, now an ethnographic film-maker. This has been shown at a variety of public events, including the 2011 Open Day at Barton Glebe Woodland Burial site, with many of the people appearing in the film being present at the day. It has alos been selected for inclusion in a variety of film festivals including, for example, Turin and Cambridge, and has been shown at academic seminars in Helsinki and Nijmegen, as well as at training days for clergy at St George's House Windsor Castle and Cuddesdon Theological College.
Woodland Burial
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council's Religion and Society programme this Collaborative Doctoral Award focused on developments in woodland burial in general with a special focus of The Arbory Trust and its Barton Glebe site near Cambridgeshire. The Project ran for three years from October 2007 -2010 with Ms Hannah Rumble, B.A., M.A (Distinction) as the primary researcher. She successfully completed her doctoral examination in December 2010. Her thesis is accessible through Durham University Library.
Part of this research, along with furether research and analysis will be published in 2012 in a joint volume with Prof. Douglas Davies dealing with woodland burial and other aspects of contemporary funeral rites in Britain. For more information, email h.j.rumble@durham.ac.uk
See also the previous note on the DDD Conferences.
Cremation in Scotland
The Cremation in Scotland Project is now drawing to its close and a major book on the material is currently being preapred for publication. Members of the project team have given numerous papers in UK, France, and Romania over the last year, they also made a significant contribution to the DDD10 Conference at Nijmegen.Funded by the Leverhulme Trust this three year project (2008-2011) is strongly interdisciplinary. Led by Professor Davies and Prof. Hilary Grainger (University of the Arts, London) the research team includes the Revd Dr Peter Jupp and Mr. Stephen White as Research Fellows and Mr Gordon Raeburn who is working for his doctorate. Together the team has been exploring the social and religious history of Scotland as the medium within which cremation emerged. Prof. Grainger has a special interest in the architectural history of Scotland's crematoria, Mr White in legal aspects of cremation and burial, Mr Raeburn in the theology of death in Scotland at and after the Reformation, Dr Jupp in the historical dynamics of the process of funerary change, and Prof Davies in its ritual and symbolic aspects and in the interdisciplinary nature of the project itself.
Death and British Funerals
Funded by the ecumenical, Churches Group for Funerals, Profs Douglas Davies and Prof. Tony Walter (of Bath University's Centre for Death and Society CDAS) completed and presented to that Group in summer 2008 a preliminary report on contemporary aspects of death and funerary rites in England and Wales.
Research leave
In summer term 2011 Prof. Davies was given research leave held as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Collegium Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. There he continued work on the joint volume with Dr Hannah Rumbe on woodland burial and contemporary funeral rites in the UK, to be published by Continuum in 2012. He took part in a variety of research seminars and also showed the film Earth to Earth: Woodland Burial and The Church of England to the Scandinavian Thanatological Association, Helsinki University's Department of Anthropology, and to a local Helsinki circle of interested parties. He was able to meet leading figures in Finland's palliative care world. In November 2011 Prof davies will return to give a plenary lecture at a conference hosted by the Collegium as part of its ongoing programme on death studies.
Spirituality, Theology & Health
Seminars are usually held on Thursday at 16:00 (check the details for venue), but you should check the seminar details for exceptions. Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information about this seminar series.
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
Exploring the Relationship between Religion, Spirituality and Health
6 December 2012 16:30 in Dun Cow Cottage
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Stress Reduction/Buffering in Individuals who are Surrendered to God: Is This a Mechanism by which Religiosity Improves Health?'
28 June 2012 16:00 in Abbey House, Seminar Room B
An abundance of evidence supports that stress predicts poor health, and religiosity, broadly defined, typically predicts good health. It is possible that one mechanism by which religiosity positively impacts health is through reduction in or prevention of the stress response, and that Surrender (Surrender to God) is a measure that captures aspects of religiosity that would predict lowered stress levels. We have conducted several studies which together support this theory on a correlational basis. Intervention studies are needed to verify mechanism, yet increasing religiosity as an intervention is frowned upon in much of the scientific community.
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Positive spirituality in health care: Practical approaches for clinicians, patients, and health care organizations'
3 May 2012 16:00 in Seminar Room B
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Transcendental questions and the person with dementia'
19 April 2012 18:00 in Dun Cow Cottage
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Judeo- Christian Religious Experience and Psychopathology: The Legacy of William James'
15 March 2012 16:00 in Debating Chamber, Palace Green
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Woodland Burial: Imagining the Self as Dead'
16 February 2012 16:00 in Dun Cow Cottage
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Healing the Dying'
12 January 2012 16:30 in Wallis Room at St John’s College
NB This seminar is before the beginning of term – and will follow conclusion of Practical Theology block teaching that day.
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Research on Religion, Spirituality and Health: Theoretical and Clinical Implications'
10 November 2011 12:00 in Wolfson Seminar Room F009, Queen’s Campus
If you would like to attend this seminar, you do not need to register with Professor Cook, but please do contact Val Heard (valerie.heard@TEWV.NHS.UK ) to let her know that you’d like to attend.
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.
Upcoming Seminars
'Sacred Psychoanalysis'
20 October 2011 16:00 in
Contact c.c.h.cook@durham.ac.uk for more information
These seminars are open to all staff and students of Durham University and to the general public. However, please be aware that they are aimed at a postgraduate level and are therefore especially suitable for MA, PhD and DThM students, as well as for others engaged in postgraduate study in relevant areas of enquiry.