Abstract

This research explores how funeral rites, mourning, and memory are experienced in both physical and digital spaces, examining the emergence of new places of memory that extend from cemeteries to digital environments, such as online memorials and social networks. The main objective is to understand how these transformations influence mourning practices by comparing funerary iconography in physical and digital contexts to identify shifts in attitudes toward death. The specific objectives include: (1) comparing funerary iconography between cemeteries and digital spaces; (2) exploring whether and how the transition to digital is occurring in Portugal, focusing on controversies surrounding the introduction of technologies such as QR codes in cemeteries; (3) investigating the replacement of tombstones with digital technologies as new forms of memorialization; and (4) analyzing the role of online memorials and social networks in supporting the mourning process. The study also examines how this digitalization generates debates among municipalities and users, while considering the impact of these changes on post-mortem rituals, thereby expanding the possibilities for reinterpreting memory and the experience of mourning.

Team