Unsettling Place(s) at the end of life.

Critical considerations of space and place at the end of life have been limited in the social science literature. To address this gap, we draw on empirical data from two interrelated but separate qualitative Australian data sets to critically examine dying in relation to considerations of space, place and affect. These studies share the primary aim to better understand and articulate end-of-life experiences, with one using video reflexive ethnography and the other semi-structured interviews with patients. Challenging the broader valorisation of particular places of dying and death (e.g. home, hospice, hospital), we critically explore the meanings and affects of space and place and how they are rooted in normative expectations. Drawing on participant accounts we interrogate simplistic concepts of home versus hospice, or hospital versus community, developing a critical social science of the intersections of space and place at the end of life. • Place of death is associated with a 'good (or not so good) death'. • Critical considerations of space and place of dying and death have been limited. • Site of care and death is influenced by sociocultural and political factors. • These factors inflect actions of patients and families, as well as professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]