<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Digital remains, in the shape of devices and traces of digital content and interaction stored on the devices them selves and online, left behind by the deceased have come to play important parts in the lives of those who live on. With a posthumanist perspective we explore how user-driven engagement with digital remains are changing and diversifying existing practices related to loss and grieving. The digital remains can be seen to contain the “essence” of the deceased person embodied within the digital device. Based on interviews and observations gathered from the contexts of Israel, the UK and Sweden, we investigate the role of digital remains in bereavement and what implications the eventual obsolescence of these remains might have for continuing bonds. In doing so we seek to increase our understanding of the (post)human encounter with death and the human capabilities of digital remains.</p>
</abstract>

Digital remains, in the shape of devices and traces of digital content and interaction stored on the devices them selves and online, left behind by the deceased have come to play important parts in the lives of those who live on. With a posthumanist perspective we explore how user-driven engagement with digital remains are changing and diversifying existing practices related to loss and grieving. The digital remains can be seen to contain the “essence” of the deceased person embodied within the digital device. Based on interviews and observations gathered from the contexts of Israel, the UK and Sweden, we investigate the role of digital remains in bereavement and what implications the eventual obsolescence of these remains might have for continuing bonds. In doing so we seek to increase our understanding of the (post)human encounter with death and the human capabilities of digital remains.

A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death

Wellbeing and Social Work, University of Hull

Conjunctions

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death"}

Digital remains, in the shape of devices and traces of digital content and interaction stored on the devices them selves and online, left behind by the...

A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death

Published Online: Jul 04, 2022

Page range: 1 - 12

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/tjcp-2022-0001

Keywords
digital remains, posthumanism, bereavement, continuing bonds

© 2022 Ylva Hård af Segerstad et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death

Published Online: Jul 04, 2022

Page range: 1 - 12

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/tjcp-2022-0001

Keywordsdigital remains, posthumanism, bereavement, continuing bonds

© 2022 Ylva Hård af Segerstad et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
digital remains, posthumanism, bereavement, continuing bonds