Deconstructing Death – Changing Cultures of Death, Dying, Bereavement and Care in the Nordic Countries

Deconstructing Death is a book dealing with some of the most recent changes and transformations within the realms of death, dying, bereavement and care in contemporary Nordic countries. The book deals with some of the major as well as some of the less conspicuous changes in our cultural and social engagement with the phenomenon of death. Among the themes touched specifically upon in the book are: organ transplantation, death education, communication with the dead, changes in commemorative rituals, mourning practices on the internet, parental responses to children’s suicide, death control, practice and ethics of end-of-life care, and the lonely death.

Deconstructing Death contains contributions written by researchers and practitioners from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland with professional and academic backgrounds within areas such as sociology, anthropology, religious studies and palliative care.

Deconstructing Death is edited by Professor of Sociology Michael Hviid Jacobsen from Aalborg University in Denmark. For several years he has published intensively on the topic of death and dying from a sociological perspective and his books include Dødens mosaik (2001), Memento mori (2008) and Humanistisk palliation (2011).