ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter we talk about how African American grief is and is not like European American grief. The differences are largely linked to past and present racism and economic disadvantage and to distinctive aspects of African American culture(s). The chapter considers the possibility of cultural grief being a reality for African Americans as a result of past and present losses stemming from racism and economic disadvantage. That leads to a discussion of grief therapy and grief support for African Americans. In this chapter we also discuss the diversity of African Americans and our hope that readers will take that into account. The chapter concludes with a discussion of revising how people in the grief field think about grief. We do not think the findings reported in this book mean that theories of grief derived from work with Euro-Americans have to be abandoned in order to understand and help grieving African Americans. However, we think theories of grief need to take into account the sociological and cultural location of African Americans and to make room for the effects of that location in understanding African American grief.
