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Week 15: Death, Mourning, and Grief

Mandatory Reading

  • Hjorth, L., & Cumiskey, K. M. (2018). Mobiles facing death: Affective witnessing and the intimate companionship of devices. Cultural Studies Review, 24(2), 166–180. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.061215015399773
  • Giaxoglou, K., & Döveling, K. (2018). Mediatization of Emotion on Social Media: Forms and Norms in Digital Mourning Practices. Social Media + Society, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117744393
  • Döveling, K., Harju, A. A., & Sommer, D. (2018). From Mediatized Emotion to Digital Affect Cultures: New Technologies and Global Flows of Emotion. Social Media + Society, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117743141
  • Wagner, A. J. M. (2018). Do not Click “Like” When Somebody has Died: The Role of Norms for Mourning Practices in Social Media. Social Media + Society, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117744392
  • Todd, A. (2024). Cripping girlhood. University of Michigan Press.
    • Chapter 4

Rationale

Partly related to the focus on digital archives, topics of death, grief, and mourning have gained significant attention since the early explorations of digital intimacies (e.g., Digital Intimacies symposium #1). The selection draws heavily from the special issue "Mediatization of Emotion on Social Media: Forms and Norms in Digital Mourning Practices" in Social Media + Society. The inclusion of Hjorth and Clumiskey as well as Todd's work further questions how we witness death online today and who is worth living in the digitally connected world.