Life, death and everyday experience of social media

Greenhill, A; Fletcher, G

Abstract

This chapter explores the online remembrances of people made famous through media-generated activity post-mortem. We explore the observed ritualised practices found on memorial websites (specifically gonetoosoon.org) and present them as examples of contemporary displays of belief practices. The study takes a socio-anthropological approach to discuss the contemporary cultural practices of public grieving and the social practices surrounding online death socialisation. The chapter describes contemporary rituals associated with death that are conducted within technologically-mediated public spaces in order to claim that there is an observable continuity of traditional practices of remembrance and grieving, now mediated through new forms of action.

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Dec 14, 2013
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Pages: 201-217
• Series Title: Religion and Society
• Book Title: Social Media and Religious Change
• ISBN: 9783110270457
• Publisher URL: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Media-Religion-Spirituality-Society/dp/3110270455