Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Digital Intimate Publics and Social Media pp 59–74Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Snapshots of Afterlife: The Cultural Intimacies of Posthumous Camera Phone Practices

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change ((PSCSC))

Abstract

In the sinking of the South Korean MV Sewol boat on 16 April 2014 (known as “Sewol”), mobile phones functioned across multiple forms of haunting—individual, collective, social, and cultural. These hauntings were intimate as they were public. They became repositories for damning camera phone footage taken by the now deceased of procedures gone wrong. While photography has always had a complicated relationship with power, representation and death, its relationship between the memory, image ownership, and dissemination is changing in the case of mobile visuality. The Sewol selfies created new forms of visualized and embodied collective trauma. Drawing from textual analysis along with ethnographic approaches, this chapter explores the powerful role camera phones play in processes of mourning and the making of digital intimate publics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Af Segerstad, Ylva Hård, and Dick Kasperowski. 2014. “A Community for Grieving: Affordances of Social Media for Support of Bereaved Parents.” New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614568.2014.983557.

  • Ahmed, S. 2005. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amore, S.D., and L. Scarciotta. 2011. “Los(t)s in Transitions: How Diverse Families Are Grieving and Struggling to Achieve a New Identity.” Journal of Family Psychotherapy 22, 1: 46–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. 1981. Camera Lucida. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. 2014. “Korea Ferry: News Conference.” BBC.com. Viewed April 18, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27062348.

  • Bennett, G., and K.M. Bennett. 2000. “The Presence of the Dead: An Empirical Study.” Mortality 5, 2: 139–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576270050076795.

  • Berlant, L., and M. Warner. 1998. “Sex in Public.” Critical Inquiry 24: 547–560.

    Google Scholar 

  • boyd, d.m., and N.B. Ellison. 2007. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13, 1: 210–230, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x.

  • Brubaker, Jed R., Gillian R. Hayes, and Paul Dourish. 2013. “Beyond the Grave: Facebook as a Site for the Expansion of Death and Mourning.” The Information Society: An International Journal 29, 3: 152–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2013.777300.

  • Chesher, C. 2012. “Between Image and Information: The iPhone Camera in the History of Photography.” In Studying Mobile Media: Cultural Technologies, Mobile Communication, and the iPhone, Larissa Hjorth, Jean Burgess, and Ingrid Richardson (eds.) (pp. 98–117). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi, I.Y. 2014. “Breaking News: Funeral Parade in Honour of the Deceased Filled the Online Memorial Alter.” Yonhap News. Viewed April 25, 2014, http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2014/04/24/0200000000AKR20140424151500017.HTML.

  • Church, S.H. 2013. “Digital Gravescapes: Digital Memorializing on Facebook.” The Information Society: An International Journal 29, 3: 184–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2013.777309.

  • Cumiskey, K.M., and L. Hjorth. 2017. Haunting Hands: Mobile Media Practices and Loss. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deger, J. 2006. Shimmering Screens. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deger, J. 2008. “Imprinting on the Heart.” Visual Anthropology 21, 4: 292–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Vries, B., and J. Rutherford. 2004. “Memorializing Loved Ones on the World Wide Web.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 49, 1: 5–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, A.S. 2015. Postfeminist Digital Cultures: Femininity, Social Media, and Self-Representation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fortunati, Leopoldina. 2002. “The Mobile Phone: Towards New Categories and Social Relations.” Information, Communication & Society 5, 4: 513–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frohlich, David, Allan Kuchinsky, Celine Pering, Abbe Don, and Steven Ariss. 2002. “Requirements for Photoware.” In CSCW’02: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 166–175). New York: ACM Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frosh, P. 2001. “The Public Eye and the Citizen Voyeur: Photography as a Performance of Power.” Social Semiotics 11, 1: 43–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330123316.

  • Frosh, P. 2015. “Selfies: The Gestural Image: The Selfie, Photography Theory, and Kinesthetic Sociability.” International Journal of Communication 9, 22: 1607–1628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, Martin, James Meese, Michael Arnold, Bjorn Nansen, and Marcus Carter. 2015. “# Funeral and Instagram: Death, Social Media, and Platform Vernacular.” Information, Communication & Society 18, 3: 255–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2014.987152.

  • Gibson, Margaret. 2014. “Digital Objects of the Dead: Negotiating Electronic Remains.” In The Social Construction of Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Leen Van Brussel and Nico Carpentier (eds.) (pp. 221–238). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. 1992. Transformation of Intimacy. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C., M. Gibbs, and L. Aceti. 2013. “Introduction to the Special Issue on the Death, Afterlife, and Immortality of Bodies and Data.” The Information Society 29, 3: 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2013.777296.

  • Gye, L. 2007. “Picture This: The Impact of Mobile Camera Phones on Personal Photographic Practices.” Continuum 21, 2: 279–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzfeld, M. 1997. Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hjorth, L. 2007. “Snapshots of Almost Contact.” Continuum, Special Issue, Gerard Goggin (ed.), 21, 2: 227–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hjorth, L. 2009. Editorial: ‘Photo Shopping: A Snapshot on Camera Phone Practices’ for the Special Issue of Knowledge, Technology & Policy Journal, 22, 3: 157–159, http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s12130-009-9085-9.

  • Hjorth, L., and M. Arnold. 2013. Online@AsiaPacific. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hjorth, L., and N. Hendry. 2015. “A Snapshot of Social Media: Camera Phone Practices.” Social Media + Society, 1, 1. http://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115580478, first published on May 11, 2015.

  • Humphreys, L. 2018. The “Qualified Self”. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ito, M. 2003. “Mobiles and the Appropriation of Place.” Receiver 8. Accessed December 10, 2005. http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/evs/readings/itoShort.pdf.

  • Ito, M., and D. Okabe. 2005. “Intimate Visual Co-Presence.” Paper presented at Ubicomp, Takanawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, 11–14 September. Accessed June 28, 2006. http://www.itofisher.com/mito/.

  • Jamieson, L. 2011. Intimacy as a Concept. Sociology Research Online 16, 4: 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jurgenson, N. 2011. “The Faux-Vintage Photo.” The Society Pages. http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/05/14/the-faux-vintage-photo-full-essay-parts-i-ii-and-iii/.

  • Kim, S.H., and Jeon, S.Y. 2014. “Ferry Captain Sentenced to 36 Years in Prison.” The Chosun Ilbo. Viewed November 12, 2014, http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/11/12/2014111201226.html.

  • Kindberg, et al. 2005. ‘‘The Ubiquitous Camera: An In-depth Study of Camera Phone Use.’’ IEEE Pervasive Computing 4, 2: 42–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasén, Amparo. 2004. “Affective Technologies.” Receiver 11. Accessed October 10, 2015. http://www.scribd.com/doc/142953400/Lasen-Amparo-2004-Affective-technologies#scribd.

  • Lingel, J. 2013. “The Digital Remains: Social Media and Practices of Online Grief.” The Information Society: An International Journal 29, 3: 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2013.777311.

  • McGlotten, S. 2013. Virtual Intimacy. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. 2011. Tales from Facebook. London: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullen, J. 2014. “Ferry Disaster: Yellow Ribbons Become Symbol of Hope, Solidarity.” CNN News. Viewed April 24, 2014. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/24/world/asia/south-korea-yellow-ribbons/.

  • Paasonen, S. 2017. “Infrastructures of Intimacy.” In Mediated Intimacies, R. Andreassen et al. (eds.) (pp. 103–116). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, P. 2012. “iPhone Photography: Mediating Visions of Social Space.” In Studying Mobile Media: Cultural Technologies, Mobile Communication, and the iPhone, L. Hjorth, J. Burgess, and I. Richardson (eds.) (pp. 85–97). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papailias, P. 2016. “Witnessing in the Age of the Database: Viral Memorials, Affective Publics, and the Assemblage of Mourning.” Memory Studies 9, 4: 437–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plummer, K. 2003. Intimate Citizenship. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prøitz, L. 2005. Cute Boys or Game Boys? Fibreculture Journal. Issue 6. https://six.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-037-cute-boys-or-game-boys-the-embodiment-of-femininity-and-masculinity-in-young-norwegians’-text-messagelove-projects/.

  • Rettberg, Walker J. 2014. Seeing Ourselves through Technology. London: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblatt, P.C. 1995. “Ethics of Qualitative Interviewing with Grieving Families.” Death Studies 19, 1: 139–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblatt, P.C. 1996. “Grief Does Not End.” In Continuing Bonds, D. Klass, P.R. Silverman, and S.L. Nickman (eds.). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblatt, P.C. 2000. Parent Grief. Philadelphia: Brunner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senft, T., and N. Baym. 2015. “What Does the Selfie Say? Investigating a Global Phenomenon.” International Journal of Communication 9, Feature: 1588–1606.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sontag, S. 1977. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanyek, Jason, and Benjamin Piekut. 2010. “Deadness Technologies of the Intermundane.” TDR: The Drama Review—A Journal of Performance Studies 54, 1: 14–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dijck, J. 2007. Mediated Memories in the Digital Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van House, N. 2011. “Personal Photography, Digital Technologies and the Uses of the Visual.” Visual Studies 26, 2: 125–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586x.2011.571888.

  • Veale, K. J. 2003. “A Virtual Adaptation of a Physical Cemetery for Diverse Researchers Using Information Science Methods.” Computers in Genealogy 8, 4: 16–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Villi, M., and M. Stocchetti. 2011. “Visual Mobile Communication, Mediated Presence and the Politics of Space.” Visual Studies 26, 2: 102–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586x.2011.571885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, T., R. Hourizi, W. Moncur, and S. Pitsillides. 2011. “Does the Internet Change How We Die and Mourn? Overview and Analysis.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 64, 4: 275–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, M. 2002. “Publics and Counterpublics.” Public Culture 14, 1: 49–90. https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/public_culture/v014/14.1warner.html.

  • Wendt, B. 2014. The Allure of the Selfie. Amsterdam: Institute of Networked Cultures.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker, S., O. Bergman, and P. Clough. 2010. “Easy on That Trigger Dad: A Study of Long Term Family Photo Retrieval.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 14, 1: 31–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zylinska, J. 2015. (ed) Photomediations. London: Open Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This chapter discusses themes explored in greater detail in Katie Cumiskey and Larissa Hjorth entitled Haunting Hands (2017). Larissa would like to thank Amy Dobson, Brady Robards, and Nicholas Carah for their editorial brilliance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Larissa Hjorth

Authors
  1. Larissa Hjorth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Larissa Hjorth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Amy Shields Dobson

  2. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Brady Robards

  3. School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Nicholas Carah

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hjorth, L. (2018). Snapshots of Afterlife: The Cultural Intimacies of Posthumous Camera Phone Practices. In: Dobson, A.S., Robards, B., Carah, N. (eds) Digital Intimate Publics and Social Media. Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97607-5_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation