How loved ones are overcoming funeral restrictions

DeathTech team member Hannah Gould was interviewed for an article in The Canberra Times, exploring how funeral practice is adapting to COVID-19 conditions:

There are other ways in which funerals may change permanently, according to Dr Hannah Gould, an anthropologist at the University of Melbourne who studies the rituals of death around the world.

“We want to be careful and not make universal judgments,” she told The Canberra Times. People grieve and remember the dead in different ways, not just in different countries but within Australia.

There were new ways of remembering people, like drawing up Spotify play-lists of their music where the mourners each chose a favourite song associated with the deceased. The play-list could be shared and happy memories triggered.

People could meet on video chat sites to remember the dead, perhaps after watching a live-stream of the funeral.

She said that when a friend of her father’s died, his pals organised a trivia night in his memory. 

Mourning takes many new forms. 

“It takes a bit of creativity,” Dr Gould said, with approval.

You can read the full article here.