Individual views and global trends : the conceptualisation of the dead

Hesz, Ágnes (author)

Death is subject to cultural representations; in every culture, there are various traditions, discourses or scripts that help people come to terms with death, dying and what comes next. Individual views, however, never fully accord with cultural frameworks; they are fragmented and full of uncertainties, inconsistencies and contradictions. Therefore, contextual analysis of individual cases would give us a better understanding of how the various frameworks – and other factors – influence individual conceptualisations and attitudes towards the dead and ultimately lead to a more subtle view of the influence the dead have in contemporary society. Applying the vernacular religious approach, this paper looks closely into the views of and attitude toward the dead of one person, and, through his example, addresses broader questions regarding the formation of individual views and the dead’s role in contemporary society.

• Language: English
• Keywords: individual conceptualisations, ethnology, folklore, folk belief, the dead, relationship with the dead, afterlife, Hungary
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 79-98
• Numbering: Vol. 96
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-171788
• UDC: 393(439)
• ISSN on article: 1406-0957
• DOI: 10.7592/FEJF2025.96.hesz
• COBISS.SI-ID: 246360067
• Publication date in RUL: 02.09.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Folklore
• Shortened title: Folklore
• Publisher: Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian Institute of Folklore
• ISSN: 1406-0957
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24169005

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: etnologija, folkloristika, verovanje, živi, mrtvi, odnosi z mrtvimi, posmrtno življenje, Madžarska

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Project number: 101095729
• Name: The roles of the agency of the dead in the lives of individuals in contemporary society
• Acronym: DEAGENCY