Media and Death: Representation and performance of dying and mourning in a mediatized age 

The second issue of Thanatos in 2013 is a theme number about media and death. The editors-in-chief, Johanna Sumiala and Outi Hakola, describe the issue as following:

”The idea to publish this special issue on Media and Death originated in a one-day workshop organized by a group of Finnish and international scholars specialized in the study of media and death. The workshop was held on June 6th, 2013 at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in collaboration with Human Mortality project. In analysing media and death and the related mediatized practices of death in different media contexts several questions were raised by the participants during that day. Whose death matters in today’s public culture? To whom does it matter? Under what conditions does death matter? What is at the centre of the contemporary ritualisation of public death? From what source do these mediatized practices of death draw their power?” (Sumiala & Hakola 2013)

Thanatos has also a brand new look! You can also now download the entire journal and individual articles by clicking the cover page. Enjoy!

Introduction:

Sumiala, Johanna & Hakola, Outi: Introduction: Media and Death (pdf 143 KB)

Articles:

Lagerkvist, Amanda: New Memory Cultures and Death: Existential Security in the Digital Memory Ecology (pdf 270 KB)

Meis, Mareke: Mobile Death Videos in Protest Movements: Cases from Iran and Syria (pdf 311 KB)

Weber, Tina:  Old Folks Never Die on TV: Representations of Corpses on American TV shows in the 21st Century (pdf 397 KB)

Hakola, Outi: Normal Death on Television: Balancing Privacy and Voyeurism (pdf 1.4 MB)

Interview:

Haverinen, Anna: On Death & Media: Interview with Tony Walter, Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath (pdf 94 KB)