Treasures in the Basement: Precious Objects, Inherited Narratives, and Bonds Across Generations (Autoethnographic essay for MAIS 662) 

One of the most impactful courses I took during my MA-IS journey was Mourning and Trauma (MAIS 662), which looked at the research and theories surrounding grief and loss. As I had experienced a lot of loss over the previous three years (including the deaths of both my parents and my best friend), this course was the perfect place to process the grief I was holding in my body and heart. 

I managed to apply the course concepts to my overarching project as well. While clearing out my basement, I discovered pockets of grief that my great aunt had accumulated and held on to. I found a dresser with drawers full of her first husband’s carefully folded pajamas and t-shirts, school work that her daughter, who died of breast cancer in 2004, had created, and found another dresser with a package of sympathy cards that the family had received after her mother’s death in 1940.  

I wrote this autoethnographic paper to explore the sociocultural interaction of previous generations on my grieving process and my life. I bolstered my personal inquiry and reflection with research on contemporary approaches to grief, including continuing bonds, reconstruction, linking objects, and narrative inheritance. I also reflected on the role of grief in my own life, and how interacting with previous generations’ belongings both healed and re-opened my grieving process. 

I found the idea of continuing bonds (Neimeyer & Cacciatore, 2016) particularly interesting and relevant. Contemporary grief theories accept maintaining an ongoing relationship with the dead as a sign of “successful” grieving, rather than striving to let go of them. I observed how continuing bonds take many forms, and in my case they take the form of linking objects (Mathew, 2022) such as possessions and photos. These objects became physical symbols that reduce fear and provide comfort. When I started viewing the materials in my basement as linking objects, I felt less pressure to organize and categorize them. 

I also explored the role of narrative in grief and material objects, and how building stories around and honouring the archives in my basement is an act of reconstruction. The idea of narrative inheritance (Goodall, 2009) provided a resource for making meaning of the treasures in my basement and the intergenerational legacy I’ve been gifted. 

While working on this essay, I grew to accept my role as a conduit for family history and the responsibility of being a steward of collective memory. My personal inquiry and reflection were enriched by the concepts I explored here. 

References (APA 7 style) 

Goodall, H. L. (2009). Narrative inheritance: A nuclear family with toxic secrets. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(4), 492–513. 

Mathew, L. E. (2022). Life: To be given back again to whence it came: A pilgrimage through prolonged grief, confronting grief illiteracy and healing loss using the art of storytelling. DIO Press Inc. 

Neimeyer, R. A., & Cacciatore, J. (2016). Towards a developmental theory of grief. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques of grief therapy: Assessment and intervention (pp. 3–13). Routledge.