Professor Evan Imber-Black Featured on NPR Program About Holiday Traditions During COVID-19

On December 11, 2020 Mercy College Professor Evan Imber-Black, program director of the graduate program in marriage and family therapy, was featured on the NPR program titled, “How Holiday Traditions Can Still Bring Us Together During the Pandemic.”

NPR’s Tonya Mosley interviewed Imber-Black on the new traditions and rituals families are practicing in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, citing the professor's recent journal article, “Rituals in the Time of COVID-19: Imagination, Responsiveness, and the Human Spirit.” During the interview, Imber-Black discussed the importance of continuing imaginative celebrations during the pandemic that adhere to social distancing guidelines and bring families together. She also cited ways her Mercy students have been creative in keeping their traditions alive this past year.

“I have a class where each of the students presents a family ritual and one woman talked about in her family, for Thanksgiving, they each pick a food item out of a bag and then they must make a dish from that item,” Imber-Black explained. “But this year, they couldn’t be together. Well, they still sent this around and they each made an item and they showed it on Zoom. Is it the same as being together? Of course it isn’t, but she said they had fun, they laughed, they had fun together, and they still kept that one aspect of their Thanksgiving ritual alive.”

In her comments, Imber-Black hoped to send a message for the upcoming holidays. She hoped that people use their imagination during winter holidays to find ways to make rituals, still say safe and connect with each other, just as they did for the spring holidays such as Passover, Easter and Ramadan. She states, “This can be an opportunity for people to do some reinventing.”

To listen to the full program, please click here.