Expressions of Private Mourning in Public Space: The Evolving Structure of Spontaneous and Permanent Roadside Memorials in the Netherlands

A visual content analysis of photos of 216 roadside memorials in the Netherlands was undertaken together with 24 interviews with the people who constructed them to understand how they deal with traumatic death. Friends urgently need to memorialize the deceased and establish spontaneous memorials. Th...

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Published inDeath studies Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 145 - 171
Main Authors Klaassens, Mirjam, Groote, Peter D., Vanclay, Frank M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Taylor & Francis Group 01.02.2013
Routledge
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects
Accidents, Traffic
Adolescent
Bereavement
Content Analysis
Death
Death & dying
Death Rituals
Female
Foreign Countries
Friendship
Funeral Rites
Funerals
Grief
Health technology assessment
Humans
Identity
Interviews
Male
Memorials & monuments
Netherlands
Parent Role
Parents
Parents - psychology
Photography
Public Space
Symbolism
Trauma
Netherlands
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Summary:A visual content analysis of photos of 216 roadside memorials in the Netherlands was undertaken together with 24 interviews with the people who constructed them to understand how they deal with traumatic death. Friends urgently need to memorialize the deceased and establish spontaneous memorials. They place meaningful objects at the place of death, not necessarily indicating the deceased's identity. In contrast, permanent memorials identify who died and re-embody that person and are primarily established by parents. By transforming the death site into a place of care, parents continue their role as nurturers. Differences in types of memorials are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0748-1187
1091-7683
DOI:10.1080/07481187.2011.641137