Rest In Facebook : A Mixed Method Research on Digital Mourning Practices on Italian Facebook Public Pages Dedicated to Bereavement

Abstract: This thesis aims to understand digital mourning practices on Italian Facebookpublic pages dedicated to bereavement, by studying how the users interact with eachother and the platform.Italian funerary rites are richly engraved in the culture, however, mourningpractices have been increasingly changing, especially in the last decade. Facebook andother Social Networking Sites play a major role in this transformation. In this thesisFacebook is considered as thanatechnology, a term introduced by Carla Sofka in SocialSupport “Internetworks,” Caskets for Sale, and More: Thanatology and the InformationSuperhighway to describe an interdisciplinary perspective of technologies used to getinformation and aid about topics related to death and bereavement (1997 p: 554). The literature review in this research shows that technology and death can be studiedthrough different lenses and with multidisciplinary approaches. Overall, the literaturereview here presented highlights some gaps: the lack of cultural specificity of thestudies and the scarce attention paid to digital communities created by users. Theseelements represent the basis of the thesis.In order to understand how mourning practices are conducted on digitalbereavement public pages the research draws theoretical notions mainly from MediaExistentialism which explains the use of these media as tools to explore life in relationto traumas, loss, grief and death (Lagerkvist, 2016, pp: 96-110). Furthermore,Continuing Bonds Theory (Field et al, 2006, p: 297) and Uses and Gratifications Theory(Katz et al, 1973, pp: 509-521) are used in order to enrich the theoretical landscape bytrying to understand the mechanisms of the behaviours observed.This thesis employs a methodology heavily based on netnography, laterexpanded by including visual analysis, supported by Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory (1964, pp:152-163). The results reveal how Italian Facebook public pages dedicated tobereavement can be understood as lifeline for those who are mourning a loss. Thefindings not only highlight the relationship between the theories mentioned before, butthey also show tight connection between the digital medium and how the mourner usesit: in order to keep a bond with the deceased the griever utilizes the SNS and adapts tothe logics of the medium. In this regard, the research also shows that the meaning oftraditional funerary symbols is sometimes kept intact in digital environments: they areindicators of certain beliefs, such as the idea that the dead reside within the technology, in a sort of heaven. This last aspect can be a starting point for further research in orderto gain better understanding of how digital mourning practices can impact local funerarytraditions: in particular how new and old forms of grieving are negotiated by themourners. Moreover, the increasingly growing body of research in death studies andcommunication suggests an interest in these practices.