Death and the media...

Joint event organised by the Media Study Group and Social Aspects of Death, Dying and Bereavement Study Group

15th November, 10:30am - 4:30pm

BSA London Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf

Theme: Death and the Media

In a time of 24/7 news channels, easy access to the internet and a burgeoning celebrity culture, death is an important source of news for journalism. Framed by ongoing discussions about the visibility of death within Western Society, death in the media adds an interesting and valuable contribution to debates about death denial and death as taboo.

This symposium will bring together academics from Sociology and associated disciplines to consider the coverage of death in the media and what this may reveal about the status of death in contemporary society more generally. Papers on the day will cover popular images of death in tabloid journalism/magazines; news realism and the representation of “ordinary deaths”; accidental, extraordinary and sensational media accounts of death; news constructions of mourning; blogs and alternative (lay) views of death; the death of celebrities in the news; ethical issues in reporting /photographing death; compassion, morality and the reporting of death and suffering.

For further information and to book your place, click here...

Launch of the Association for the Study of Death & Society website...

Image: from a series of six engravings of memento mori by the German artist Alexander Mair, 1605, Monoscope

The Association for the Study for Death & Society (ASDS) has formally launched its website this month. The site features news and events, a photo gallery, profiles of the council members and regional representative of the Association, details of the DDD conference series, jobs, and links to other organisations. Additionally, members have access to discussion forums, a database of member’s research and teaching interests, and lists of member’s publications. Members are automatically listed in the database and receive favourable rates for the DDD conference series and the journal ‘Death Studies’.

ASDS promotes the study of death in the arts, humanities, social and allied sciences. To this end the Association will:

• Foster and promote publication, conferences and multidisciplinary networks
• Support academic professional development
• Promote high quality, ethical research
• Shape and influence policy and practice agendas
• Support the teaching of death studies
• Promote the widespread recognition of death studies
• Represent the interests of the membership

If you would like more information about ASDS and how to become a member, visit the website at http://www.deathandsociety.org/index.php.

Digital Death Day...

Digital Death Day

9th October, 9am - 5pm

The Centre for Creative Collaboration

The University of London



Death is a part of life and life has (to an extent) become digital.

This un-conference will be primarily concerned with provoking discourse around the social, cultural and practical implications of Death in the Digital World. Thus stimulating a reconsideration of how death, mourning, memories and history are currently being augmented in our technologically mediated society.

The archiving, networking and post mortem engagement of ‘digital remains’ leads us to consider what place digital information has in our lives legally, sentimentally and historically.

For further details, see here...