The bright and dark side of Joseph Fenton: An analysis of narratives describing the man known as Sudharman

ABSTRACT

The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. This piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used autoethnographic and ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and the blog posts, as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out who Joe Fenton was. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the frames of dark and bright communication behaviors. Our analysis determined that Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable. Dark communication described Fenton as being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive.

Notes

¹The names of the cousins, aunts, and uncles have been changed to mask their identity.