Bereaved parents’ online grief communities: de-tabooing practices or grief-ghettos?

• The death of a child is a near taboo subject in most contemporary societies. This limits bereaved parents’ means for coping with their loss. However, with the introduction of social media, this has changed. In this paper, we present preliminary results from case studies of a number of different types of Danish and Swedish online grief communities for bereaved parents. The main differences between these communities are related to the conditions for participation and sharing: open or closed, moderated or non-moderated communities. The main questions focus on how development of practices and norms for grieving and mourning online are related to the particular conditions for participation. The different types of grief communities under study are a closed and an open group on Facebook, an open dedicated memorial website and open discussion groups such as Libero/Pampers etc. We aim at analyzing which kinds of practices are performed and shared in the different forums and how norms and traditions are performed, challenged and negotiated in the various formats. Furthermore, we discuss how these practices are related to dominant ideas of grief in society as such, for instance, in relation to intensity, length etc. Do these practices lead to a softening of prejudices against mourners, i.e. de-tabooing the loss of a child, or do they lead to new biases and misconceptions as displayed in popular media, casting them as grief-ghettos? Finally, we want to reflect on the unique character of these different kinds of empirical material in the study of parental grief work.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Mänsklig interaktion med IKT (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Human Aspects of ICT (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

social media

coping

bereavement

death

taboo

ghetto

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)