Paper short abstract:

As an ethnologist I will present a study of how relatives and friends, on memorial websites on the Internet in Norway and Sweden, express their grief, memory, love to deceased persons. Thus the scholar has a real opportunity to study how they express their identity in difficult life situations.

Paper long abstract:

I am a member of the newly founded Nordic Network of Thanatology (NNT). I will present an ongoing study of how memories of and addresses to deceased persons on the Internet in Norway and Sweden have increased noticeably during the past few years. Both relatives and friends express their grief, memory and love to the deceased. Extremely intense emotions are obvious in these contexts. Emotions are evident for example in poems composed to the memory of the deceased. Through the study of the strong feelings in the presentations of the authors the scholar can define their identities. The sense of loss, regret and remembrance can be given tangible expression for several years after the death.The authors show by their words and by for example pictures of angels their conceptions of a life after death. One common conception concerning the dead persons has to do with a reunion some time in the future. Conversations can be conducted with the deceased persons in which the authors of these statements express hopes that the addressee can hear what is expressed. This can develop in a dialogue with the deceased that is continued over and over. There are many instances of deceased persons being perceived of as angels who are believed to watch over their relatives and friends on earth.