CONSTRUCTED COMMUNICATION OF GRIEVING IN AMERICA AFTER SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH

By

ROY SCHWARTZMAN* AND DAVID TIBBLES**

Abstract

Analysis of how the events of September 11, 2001 have been framed in public commemorations, popular music, and governmental policy reveals that collective grief has been immersed in denial and anger. These stages of the grief process articulated by Kübler-Ross inhibit coping with loss and transcending the tragedy. Reinvigoration of grief rituals that acknowledge loss could alleviate the tendency to endorse violence as a response to violent death.

Key Words: September 11^th, Grief, War on Terrorism, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2009, 35 – 48.

About the authors

*Roy Schwartzman (Ph.D., University of Iowa) is a professor in the Department of  Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA.

**David Tibbles (M.A., West Virginia University) teaches speech, debate, and English at Republic High School in Missouri, USA.

Note: Portions of an earlier version of this paper were presented at the 2005 Central States Communication Association convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Article Citation

Schwartzman, R. & Tibbles, D. (2009):  Constructed communication of grieving in America after September Eleventh. Journal of Communication and Media Research 1(1): 35 – 48.