Citation

Davis CS, Quinlan MM, Baker DK. Death Stud. 2016; 40(5): 316-328.

Affiliation

c Senior Lecturer, Department of Communication Studies , University of North Carolina , Charlotte , NC.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07481187.2016.1141261

PMID

26766407

Abstract

Eulogies serve a sensemaking function of identity construction-both for the deceased and for the survivors. This work examines the communicative construction of identity in eulogies and shows how eulogia discourse affirms and reconstructs our relational identity through communication. We extend scholarship on eulogies by using relational communication theories to investigate how eulogic discourse functions as identity construction, considering eulogies of ordinary people, and exploring the gendered nature of eulogies. We discuss how eulogies are specific ritualized forms of communication in which the bereaved focus on self-identity as they articulate their experience of grief.

Language: en