HON 410: Expressive Culture of Death: Library Guides

You can tell a lot about a culture by looking at its euphemisms. At its most basic, a euphemism is a word or phrase that’s a softer substitute for a blunt expression. But to make a general rule, the more taboo a topic is, the more euphemisms there are for it.

A death announcement on social media doesn’t have to include all of the details surrounding the death of your loved one. Usually short and concise is the best route to take. Really all that’s needed is the name of the deceased, when they died and a link to an online memorial if one exists. If you’d like to include more details you can, but it’s not at all necessary.

Language has always evolved. New words have always popped up. Teenagers have often led the way. But the internet and online life pave the way for it to happen more quickly.

In this case, words created within a digital setting to evade rules are now jumping the fences from virtual spaces into real ones and permeating spoken language, especially among young people. Beyond being interesting linguistic footnotes, the terms suggest ways that kids can safely discuss and understand serious matters while using a vocabulary that science — and the adults in their lives — might see as too casual or dangerously naive.

The Nevada Arts Council’s Folklife Program has documented the existence and development of Nevada’s diverse geographical and cultural communities and its resident folk artists. Today the Folklife Archives constitute a significant intellectual, historical and educational resource with relevance to many fields of inquiry. It is a dynamic fieldwork collection that continues to grow and change with new and ongoing research

The Library of Congress is home to an array of resources on the folk customs, fine art, pop culture, and literature of Halloween and Día de Muertos. Collections range from classic film clips to recordings of storytellers, and more.

In Latin America, in Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S., and especially in Mexico, no ghost story is told as often, discussed as enthusiastically, or interpreted as widely, as the legend of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman.

Mortality is a useful lens through which we may view many aspects of early American society. “So Once Were We”: Death in Early America explores American practices and traditions for coping with death, from the early years of European exploration and discovery to the early 20th century and the burgeoning modern funeral industry. Women in the Victorian period adhered to semi-rigid social rules for mourning. They were expected to wear appropriate mourning clothes for set periods of time following the death of a family member. The time-frames for stages of mourning and the lengths of those stages varied by community and family.