“We are a United Humanity”: Death, Emotion and Digital Media in the Church of Sweden

Abstract

This article seeks to bring together the study of death, digital media, emotion and religion, using a Christian organization as a case study. The Swedish national church (Svenska kyrkan) has a large but declining membership and uses digital media extensively. We will analyze two of its attempts to respond to grief through media: a hybrid digital-physical technology installation in Swedish cemeteries and a series of posts about death and sadness on Facebook. In both projects, the Church presents emotion as a universal shared experience that unites all humanity, using this discourse to bring together its religious and non-religious audiences.

Funding

This research was conducted as part of “Existential Terrains: Memory and Meaning in Cultures of Connectivity” (et.ims.su.se), a program funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, and Stockholm University.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted as part of “Existential Terrains: Memory and Meaning in Cultures of Connectivity” (et.ims.su.se), a program funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, and Stockholm University.

Notes on contributors

Timothy Hutchings

Timothy Hutchings (Ph.D., Durham University, UK) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Media Studies at Stockholm University (Sweden). His research interests include religion, digital media, and the study of death and bereavement online.