Individual Views and Global Trends: The Conceptualisation of the Dead. A Case Study

Death is subject to cultural representations; in every culture, there are various traditions, discourses or scripts that help people come to terms with death, dying and what comes next. Individual views, however, never fully accord with cultural frameworks; they are fragmented and full of uncertainties, inconsistencies and contradictions. Therefore, contextual analysis of individual cases would give us a better understanding of how the various frameworks – and other factors – influence individual conceptualisations and attitudes towards the dead and ultimately lead to a more subtle view of the influence the dead have in contemporary society. Applying the vernacular religious approach, this paper looks closely into the views of and attitude toward the dead of one person, and, through his example, addresses broader questions regarding the formation of individual views and the dead’s role in contemporary society.