Attitude change towards suicide: African diaspora, Anglican and Catholic Churches

This article examines shifting attitudes toward suicide within African diaspora communities and Christian institutions, particularly the Anglican and Catholic Churches. Across African deathways and within ecclesiastical institutions, suicide has long been silenced, with its memory and meaning used to discipline the living. Drawing on multisited qualitative data from Uganda, the UK, and Italy, the analysis shows how cultural stigma, ritual exclusion, and doctrinal teachings have historically framed suicide as moral failure and spiritual transgression. Through two clergy vignettes—Canon Anna Matthews and Father Matteo Balzano—the article highlights moments of institutional rupture and theological reappraisal. Emile Durkheim’s concept of egoistic suicide anchors the sociological reading, emphasising the role of weakened integration and communal disconnection. The article advances the concept of mediatory deathwork, defined as the labour of navigating institutional systems, cultural expectations, belonging, and emotional needs in the management of death and memory. The framework shows how communities negotiate shame, reshape grief, and seek dignity for suicide victims. Among the Ugandan diaspora, reframing suicide as a mental health issue challenges exclusionary traditions and enables new rituals. World Suicide Prevention Day offers a platform to shift institutional attitudes, strengthen survivor support, and expand transnational cultural discourse.