The make-up of the contemporary nation-state is increasingly multiethnic and statistics show that in many cases no one group is numerically the largest. Interethnic relations are given global visibility by the media while much that happens among different groups depends on context. Editors John D. Morgan (King's College, London) and Pittu Laungani (South Bank and Manchester Universities, England) have gathered leading international authorities to produce Death and Bereavement Around the World, a five-volume presentation and analysis of the ways different peoples experience dying and grief. The second volume of this series examines national cultures. The contributors explore unique Canadian views about dying, bereavement, and euthanasia; the realities of dying and grieving in the United States, noting changes that have occurred since September 11, 2001; and black American attitudes and behaviours. The celebration of the "Day of the Dead" is used to interpret Meso-American views of death-- that death does not have the final word.
Other contributors show how the indigenous beliefs of Jamaica mix with Christianity and with the social crises in that country, and discuss similar themes about in Panama, Colombia, and Brazil, where a strong hospice and bereavement care movement is tempering traditional attitudes. In the chapters on Peru, Argentina, and Venezuela religious and secular rituals are explored as to how they help the dying and bereaved.