Death in postprotestant culture

Abstract

This project seeks to explore the cultural taboo surrounding death and grief in postprotestant society. The project originates from a curiosity about the sociocultural function and impact of this taboo, and seeks to examine it through the lives of the researchers. Through autoethnography, in which the researchers represent the culture they are a part of by writing about the subject from their own perspectives, it examines cultural and linguistic phenomenons connected to death. The process started off with writings about the first or greatest confrontations with death. In addition to the personal experiences, reflections and writings it also includes the work of Thomas Mann, in the long short story Death in Venice. This material is chosen, as Mann posses the skill to portray and convey cultural conflicts, that are still relevant for our current cultural settings. This additional dimension contributes with a historical perspective. In addition to these methods, the project contains an analysis of the lutheran life-event: the funeral, as it as ritual is a cultural focal point. The project concludes that death is surrounded by a cultural taboo and that the reasons for it is grief, the inability of action and existential uncertainty.