ABSTRACT
This chapter explores theories about continuing bonds in bereavement, showing how such ongoing connections may or may not support resilience among bereaved persons and groups. When persons who are grieving are challenged by the finality of death, most bereaved persons and groups seek to cope with their losses and their grief by engaging in mourning practices such as traditional funeral or memorial rituals, as well as spontaneous activities designed to give vent to grief and to honor the memory and legacy of the deceased person. Such memorial activities can form the foundation for acknowledging the ongoing connections with the deceased. This can occur on an individual level or even at a community or national level. For example, communities of various types may erect a roadside memorial, endow a scholarship, name a building or recall the legacies of the deceased in various other ways. Each of these can come to constitute continuing bond with that person, and such bonds can encourage resilience in the communities or even nations involved so as to enable them to engage in ongoing forms of productive living.
