The cultures of grief: The practice of post-mortem photography and iconic internalized voices

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Abstract

I develop an exploratory analysis of “post-mortem photography”, a social practice existing in different cultures. The study, part of a larger project in Denmark, “The culture of grief”, combines Dialogical Self Theory, mainly concerning verbal and textual objects, with the iconic framework of affective semiosis to discuss the function of taking and keeping pictures of dead persons as if they were still alive or just sleeping. How can this practice and artifact culturally mediate the experience of death and the elaboration of grief? What kind of inner dialogue is developed through the internalization of this specific kind of presence/absence? These are some of the preliminary questions I will try to answer by discussing some examples of post-mortem photography from the 19th and 20th centuries in different countries.
Original languageEnglish
JournalHuman Affairs
Volume28
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)471–482
Number of pages12
ISSN1210-3055
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Oct 2018

Keywords

  • affective semiosis
  • grief culture
  • iconic internalization
  • polyphony

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