This Master's thesis examines the experiences of communication with the dead from an anthropological perspective, distinguishing between communication with known or »significant« deceased and communication with unknown dead individuals. In the theoretical section, I first explore people's communication with their deceased loved ones in the context of coping with profound loss. Therefore, I begin by presenting the development of theories and models of bereavement that have emerged since the early 20th century within the framework of scientific research into the experience of death among individuals. I continue with a description of a new and different model of grief called the Continuing bonds grief model, and finally, I present the phenomenology of communication with significant deceased individuals. The next theoretical section addresses communication with unknown dead, in which I clarify concepts related to »good« and »bad« death and introduce the concept of »spirits«. The final and most extensive ethnographic section follows, where, through thematic analysis, I present the findings of a qualitative field study and provide a synthesis of the final conclusions.
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