A Narrative Approach to Social Media Mourning: Small Stories and Affective Positioning

This book explores how social media are reshaping the experience of dying, death, and mourning by examining how these processes are narrated online as small stories that revolve around transgressive moments and events. It offers an empirical framework for analyzing these stories and highlights the role of affect in narrative activity. The book appeals to researchers in various fields, including narrative analysis, anthropology and sociology of emotion, digital communication, media and cultural studies, and (digital) death and dying.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This captivating book delves into the profound ways in which social media are reshaping the realms of dying, death, and mourning. Adopting a narrative approach, it compellingly argues that these profound life events are now shared online as poignant, fleeting narratives, intricately woven around transgressive moments and events that evoke motivational, participatory, or connective emotions. Through a series of captivating case studies, the book presents an empirical framework for analyzing these small stories of dying, death, and mourning as practices of sharing that become intertwined with specific modes of affective positioning. These modes involve modulations of different degrees of distance or proximity to the death event and the deceased, the networked audience(s), and the affective self.

By exploring these intricate dynamics, the book sheds light on the ways in which stories and emotion are mobilized in digital cultures to attract audiences, generate value (social or economic), and achieve visibility. This interdisciplinary work will captivate researchers in narrative analysis, the anthropology and sociology of emotion, digital communication, media and cultural studies, as well as the emerging field of (digital) death and dying. It offers a rich tapestry of insights that deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between technology, emotions, and the human experience in the digital age.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367520663