"Losing Things Was Nothing New": A Family's Stories of Foreclosure

Although personal bankruptcies and foreclosures have always been common, in Western culture people do not often share these stories. In this article, I briefly examine the literature surrounding narratives, "stories on the margin," and disenfranchised grief. I then present my family members' stories surrounding the loss of our home in 1991 through foreclosure. Following these stories, I examine how disenfranchised grief-through the lack of culturally sanctioned stories of loss-can lead to silence. Finally, I substantiate why eliciting noncanonical economic narratives is personally and collectively beneficial for research on grief and loss.