Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: EDUARDO BRENO NASCIMENTO BEZERRA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : EDUARDO BRENO NASCIMENTO BEZERRA
DATE: 31/05/2022
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Videoconferência
TITLE:

BETWEEN DEATH AND INVISIBILITY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ACTIVITY OF PROFESSIONALS IN THE FUNERAL SECTOR

KEY WORDS:

funerary agents; embalmers; gravediggers; activity clinic;

PAGES: 124
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUMMARY:

Changes associated with the commodification of death allowed the emergence of several professions that deals directly with human corpses. Among these professionals are the funeral workers. As they develop their job activities, in contact with cadavers that could be in various states, these professionals have to deal with prejudices and stigmas associated with their work activity. Therefore, this thesis had as main objective investigate the work activity of professionals who deal directly with death, considering these workers as active subjects in the process of analyzing their own activity. Applying theoretical and methodological contributions of the Activity Clinic, clinical-qualitative research was conducted with funeral agents (Study 1), embalmers (Study 2) and gravediggers (Study 3), all workers of a large private funerary group from northeast Brazil. Data were constructed through the work activities observations, an individual semi-structured interview and a group interview mediated by the use of the Instructions to a double technique. Study 1 allowed us to understand that work activities of the funeral agents are much more than dealing with cadavers. These workers also need to have a high degree of socio-emotional skills, especially when dealing with grieving families and providing support. Considering that the work routines are unpredictability and there are impediments in performing their activities, each funerary agent develops its own strategies to cope. They stylize their manners to execute the work activities, but there are strategies shared between coworkers, which allows the construction of professional collectives’ approaches. The study 2 exposed that the work of embalmers goes beyond the preservation of cadavers, including supplementary care of the corpses. Which can contribute to reduce the pain of friends and family. Embalmers mobilize a lot of themselves to perform a job well done, especially with bodies that are very deteriorated. A factor that contributes to revitalize a work that is linked to a high degree of social invisibility, as well as risks and, therefore, precariousness. In the study 3, we found that in addition to burials, the exhumations are activities that require a lot of physical and psychic investment from gravediggers. These workers highlight the need to have courage to perform this work that is highly rejected by society. However, they manage to signify the prejudices suffered daily and execute their professional attributions by working together, developing interpersonal relationships marked by the use of humor. As well as, building cooperation agreements and accessing to collective and transpersonal memory of these attributions. We hope that the results obtained in these three studies can contribute to the construction of new meanings for the professional practices of these workers, reverberating in terms of transformation and development of the power to act, as well as in the visibility of these professional categories so essential in our society.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Externo à Instituição - CASSIO ADRIANO BRAZ DE AQUINO - UFC
Presidente - 1134517 - JORGE TARCISIO DA ROCHA FALCAO
Externa à Instituição - THAÍS AUGUSTA CUNHA DE OLIVEIRA MÁXIMO - UFPB