Kolaren Olof Jonassons änka

Abstract

Human experiences of loss always entail a crisis of control. When we lose a loved one, it strikes our illusion of control and predictability. We are thrown, and the world seems to fall apart. However, this condition is not permanent. Simultaneously, after a loss there is a human driving force to recover the everyday routines and regain mastery over one's life. As an example of this human stratagem, this article deals with the bereavement coping project of a widow in a sawmill community in the turn of the century. In 1903, Anna Jonasson lost her husband in a drowning-accident. Suddenly she was standing alone, without a breadwinner, and as a single parent to seven young children. The article tries to illuminate how she in a social and historical context that delimited her options, yet did something with the given circumstances at hand, with the possibilities within her reach, to cope witht he loss, and to recover the power to govern her own life.

Keywords

• loss
• grief
• crisis
• death
• routines
• power