Media and Ritual: Death, Community, and Everyday LifeThis wide-ranging and accessible book offers a stimulating introduction to the field of media anthropology and the study of religious ritual. Johanna Sumiala explores the interweaving of rituals, communication and community. She uses the tools of anthropological enquiry to examine a variety of media events, including the death of Michael Jackson, a royal wedding and the transgressive actions which took place in Abu Ghraib, and to understand the inner significance of the media coverage of such events. The book deals with theories of ritual, media as ritual including reception, production and representation, and rituals of death in the media. It will be invaluable to students and scholars alike across media, religion and anthropology. |
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analysis Anna Lindh Anthropology of media audience Bataille Cambridge celebrity centre ceremony circulation civil religion collective imagination Coman confession connection constructed Couldry coverage created cultural Dayan daydreaming death rituals Durkheim Durkheimian Ehn and Löfgren emotions everyday Facebook film Finland Finnish global Helsingin Sanomat Helsinki Ilta-Sanomat images imaginary imagined communities individual iPhone Jackson’s death Jokela and Kauhajoki Journal journalists Kangasala Konginkangas liminal lives London mass media material media and ritual media anthropology media events media witnessing mediatized rituals Michael Jackson modern society mourning rituals MTV3 Muammar Gaddafi official society participate performance pilgrimage police murders public death public sphere reality relationship representation ritual practices rituals of death role Rothenbuhler Routledge sacred school shootings sense shared social social imagination social media Sociology space spectacle Steve Jobs Sumiala Sumiala-Seppänen Swedish television theory today’s Turner University Press victims videos viewers violence virtual visual YouTube