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Chiara Garattini

Personal Information

Name:	Chiara Garattini
Position:	Doctoral Fellow
Department:	Anthropology
Organisation:	NUI Maynooth
Location:	PHD area, John Hume Building
E-mail:	chiara.garattini@nuim.ie
Telephone:	++ 353 1 708 6219
Fax:	++ 353 1 708 6456
Research Interests:	Death, Body, Space, Material culture
Research Group(s):

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Projects

Project Title:	Irish Infantile Funerary Practices in a European context
Supervisor:	Prof. Lawrence Taylor, Head of the Anthropology Department, NUIM
Project Abstract:	This project is an anthropological study of contemporary infantile funerary practices in Ireland in a historical and comparative context. To better understand the changes in the last few decades I am investigating the history of customs and practices that surround the deaths of infants through miscarriages, stillbirths, and those who died around the time of birth. I believe this is a rich and interesting area, which may throw light on some of the most important changes in Irish culture and society: the changing role of the Catholic Church; the ongoing development of popular culture; the impact of biomedical technology; and, the ever-changing forms of the Irish family, for example. During the mid 20th century, great changes occurred in attitudes towards infantile death, which are reflected in changes in funerary practices: infants moved from the anonymity and marginalisation of separated burial grounds to recognition and naming in the main cemeteries. These changing attitudes are reflected in a reorganisation of spaces dedicated to their burial, in a material accumulation of objects on graves, and in more open expressions of grief and experience. Part of this research is concerned with contemporary practices. I am interested in speaking to people about issues related to death and mortality before and around the time of birth, and also in listening to their personal experiences. I hope in this way that a properly conducted study will allow for an informed interpretation of current practices, and may also shed a helpful light on the pain and suffering that accompanies infant mortality. Often even the most private emotional responses to personal tragedy may be emotions similar to those felt by others in comparable circumstances. I hope that by listening to the experiences of a wide variety of people I will be able to see broad cultural patterns. This research project is founded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences – Government of Ireland Scholarship.

 

Publications

• ‘Memorialising Infantile Death in Irish Cultural History’, Postgraduate Symposium March 2004, National University of Ireland – Maynooth (in print).
• ‘“Sites” of Memory, and the Elaboration of Loss’, in “Symposia Journal for Studies in Ethnology and Anthropology 2004”, publication of The International Conference Death and The Orient, May 2004, Center for Studies in Folklife and Traditional Culture of Dolj County (in print).
  

Presentations

• Dublin, December 2005: Public lecture titled ‘Glasnevin: City of the Dead’ at the National Library as part of a series of public lectures, part of the “Dublin Studies” Certificate organised by the National University of Ireland – Maynooth in collaboration with the Boston College in Dublin.
• London, September 2005: Presentation of a paper titled ‘Reflections in an Imagined Afterlife: infant burial spaces in 20th century Ireland’ at the ‘Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference 2005’, the 31st August-2nd September 2005 in London (UK).
• Bath, October 2005: Presentation of a paper titled ‘“Creating memories”: material culture and infantile loss in contemporary Ireland’ at the ‘Death, Dying and Disposal 7th International Conference’, at the University of Bath (UK), the 15th-18th September 2005.
• Cork, October 2004: Presentation of a paper (as invited speaker) tiled ‘Grieving Infant Death: objects, personhood and emotions’ at the International Conference “Talking Death: narratives of illness and bereavement” held at the University College, Cork (Ireland)
• Vienna, September 2004: Presentation of a poster about my PhD research at the 8th EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) Biennial International Conference “Face to Face: Connecting Distance and Proximity” in Vienna (Austria). I received a European Union Grant to pay the expenses to participate and present a poster at the 8th EASA.
• Craiova, May 2004: Presentation of a paper tiled ‘“Sites” of Memory, and the Elaboration of Loss’ at the International Conference “Death and the Orient” in Craiova (Romania)
• Bolzano, April 2004: Presentation of a seminar (as invited speaker) tiled ‘Invisible Infancy and Mourning women’ at the Archaeological Museum of Bolzano (Italy)
• Maynooth, March 2004: Presentation of a paper tiled ‘Memorialising Infantile Death in Irish Cultural History’ at the Postgraduate Symposium NUI-Maynooth
• Vienna, August – September 2003: Presentation of a paper titled ‘Irish Infantile Funerary Practices’ at the Socrates-Erasmus Intensive Programme at the Institut für Ethnologie, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universitat Wien, on “Agency, Discourses of Power, and Collective Representations”