Love, Religion, and Secularity

McCaffree's challenge to traditional definitions of religion, and his suggestion that religiosity is about individual integration into a moral community are discussed. This is taken as an opportunity to examine difficulties in defining religion, and attempts to go around the definition issues by offering analogies. Religious emotion, as discussed by William James and Emile Durkheim, is found to be no different than strong emotions directed at our secular commitments. Devotion, and self-sacrifice are discussed in both religious and secular context. The denial of death and fantasies about an afterlife are central to religion, and are unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future.

Actitudes culturales ante la enfermedad y la muerte. Perspectivas desde la pandemia global

In the context of Covid-19 pandemic, this paper reflects on the effects of great epidemics on our cultural attitudes towards illness and death. First, through a parallel between the coronavirus pandemic and the medieval Black Death, I examine the impact of epidemics on our ways of thinking about reality and of responding collectively to the fear of dying. Based on the historical periodization of the different mentalities towards death, formulated by Philippe Ariès, I argue that epidemic phenomena modify the way in which the different cultures conceive and deal with finitude, and how this fact manifests itself in the contemporary society, characterized by the denial of death. I conclude that current pandemic can lead us to a thoughtful reappropriation of our mortality. Second, based on the reflections of American writer Susan Sontag, I analyze the negative impact of military metaphors associated with contagious diseases, and how these metaphors promote our fears and irrational attitudes in the face of crisis. Finally, I show that the emergence of new pathologies, such as coronavirus disease, is generating a conceptual change in medicine that leads to rethinking many of the traditional ideas regarding microorganisms and the infections they cause. I claim that this scientific revolution may contribute to a positive modification in our ways of understanding death and disease, and to the search for a more balanced relationship with the natural environment that also helps prevent future pandemics.

Journalistic Denial of Death during the Very First Traumatic Period of the Italian COVID-19 Pandemic

Exactly one year ago, between February and March 2020, the COVID-19 infection went from an epidemic confined to China to a worldwide pandemic that was particularly lethal in Italy. This study examined the media accounts during that period by analysing the representation of death-related constructs in Corriere della Sera, the most widely read newspaper in Italy. A textual and thematic analysis of articles published between period A (epidemic: 23 January–22 February 2020) and period B (pandemic: 23 February–31 March 2020) was conducted using Nvivo-11. A total of 141 articles comprising 48,524 words were collected. The most utilised words and meanings linked to COVID-19 were computed. In the rank distribution, ‘China’ and ’virus’ were the terms most frequently used in both periods. The terms ‘death’ and ‘dead’ were completely absent in period A and appeared in the 535th position in period B. The term ‘dead’ was used primarily to indicate the number of deceased. From a Terror Management Theory perspective, it is possible that the minimal reference to death-related issues was a reflection of death denial and a manifestation of efforts to deny death to manage terror. These findings highlight the ambiguities and ambivalence surrounding any issue pertaining to death; on the one side, undue alarmism may provoke exaggerated reactions, such as moral panic, while on the other denial-based messages that minimise references to mortality may reduce safe behaviour during a pandemic.

Journalistic Denial of Death During the Very First Traumatic Period of the Italian SARS-CoV2 Pandemic

Exactly one year ago, between February and March 2020, the SARS-CoV2 infection went from an epidemic confined to China to a worldwide pandemic that was particularly lethal in Italy. This study examined media accounts during that period by analysing the representation of death-related constructs in Corriere della Sera, the most widely read newspaper in Italy. A textual and thematic analysis of articles published between period A (epidemic: 23 January–22 February 2020) and period B (pandemic: 23 February–31 March 2020) was conducted using Nvivo-11. A total of 141 articles comprising 48,524 words was collected. The most utilized words and meanings linked to SARS-CoV2 were computed. In the rank distribution, ‘China’ and ’virus’ were the terms most frequently used in both periods. The terms ‘death’ and ‘dead’ were completely absent in period A and appeared in the 535th position in period B. The term ‘dead’ was used primarily to indicate the number of deceased. From a Terror Management Theory perspective, it is possible that the minimal reference to death-related issues was a reflection of death denial and a manifestation of efforts to deny death to manage terror. These findings highlight the ambiguities and ambivalence surrounding any issue pertaining to death; on one side, undue alarmism may provoke exaggerated reactions, such as moral panic, while on the other denial-based messages that minimize references to mortality may reduce safe behaviour during a pandemic.

The Colony of Medicine

This chapter looks into Ghana's significant change which affected the whole of Africa: the continent's population had begun to increase dramatically by the middle of the twentieth century. The chapter shows the demographic historians' arguments over the reason for this, some pointing to rising birth rates and others to falling death rates. While available evidence suggests that in most regions women's fertility levels remained broadly the same over the first half of the century, there are indications of an accelerating decline in mortality rates, particularly among infants and young children. Yet the overall impact is clear: Africans were, on average, living longer and dying older. The chapter turns to discuss a crucial factor in the increasing denial of death: modern medicine. As individual life expectancy and the overall population in the Gold Coast begun to increase dramatically, the chapter examines how these changes impacted upon attitudes towards death and upon the experience of dying.

Crisis communication and crisis management during COVID-19

This paper presents results from a comparative and qualitative discourse-historical analysis of governmental crisis communication in Austria, Germany, France, Hungary and Sweden, during the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown from March 2020 to May 2020 (a ‘discourse strand’). By analysing a sample of important speeches and press conferences by government leaders (all performing as the ‘face of crisis management’), it is possible to deconstruct a range of discursive strategies announcing/legitimising restrictive measures in order to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic where everybody is in danger of falling ill, regardless of their status, position, education and so forth. I focus on four frames that have been employed to mitigate the ‘dread of death’ (Bauman, 2006) and counter the ‘denial of death’ (Becker, 1973/2020): a ‘religious frame’, a ‘dialogic frame’, a frame emphasising ‘trust’, and a frame of ‘leading a war’. These interpretation frameworks are all embedded in ‘renationalising’ tendencies, specifically visible in the EU member states where even the Schengen Area was suddenly abolished (in order to ‘keep the virus out’) and borders were closed. Thus, everybody continues to be confronted with national biopolitics and body politics (Wodak, 2021).<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Most governments employed specific modes of crisis communication vis-à-vis the COVID-19 pandemic, depending on the respective socio-political context and historical tradition.</li><br /><li>Crisis communication attempted to persuade people to follow restrictive measures; the legitimation strategies employed usually appealed to authority and quasi-rational arguments; however, sometimes mythopoesis occurred.</li><br /><li>In times of a pandemic, denial of death does not work anymore; dread of death becomes ubiquitous.</li><br /><li>Four macro-frames, embedded in nativist and nationalistic rhetoric, were used to argue for, and legitimise restrictive measures. Some heads of state (or prime ministers) instrumentalised the crisis to install ever more authoritarian practices.</li></ul>

The Role of Mind-Body Medicine in a Cancer Survivor’s Experience

This paper tells the personal story of a cancer survivor and her experience dealing with death. It analyzes Ernest Becker’s thesis, The Denial of Death, by examining the solutions, which he suggests humans use to cope with the fear of death by establishing a sense of purpose and control. The author identifies examples of Becker’s solutions by looking at the mechanisms she used to cope with the possibility of dying through out her journey with cancer. With a tendency toward secularization and a focus on psychology in present day, the solutions people use to deal with death are changing. The author looks at how self-help, in the form of mind-body medicine, is a new solution that is used to deal with the fear of death in the present day socio-cultural landscape. While providing control, this way of dealing with the fear of death can be isolating and lead to self-blame. Keywords: Ernest Becker, Denial of Death, mind-body medicine, psychologize death, self-help.

Temps du deuil, temps du récit. Le renversement du temps dans La première année de Jean-Michel Espitallier

This paper aims to analyze the nature of time as identified in the narrative structure built by the French writer, Jean-Michel Espitallier, in his novel, La première année. We are considering how the author perceives the relationship between time and mourning through the ability of literary space to provide a compensatory universe. We are looking to observe recent activity in French mourning literature through the lens of this particularly novel, namely its perspective on processing mourning and trauma. This paper also highlights a prominent feature of French mourning literature: how the narrator’s literary discourse is used to fight against the passing of time. The fight against time is an implicit denial of death and mourning.