Representations of Death and Mortuary Rites During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Asian and Middle Eastern Press: An Exploratory Analysis
Since the 19 th century, the press has played a significant role in disseminating information about epidemics and their repercussions in the field of thanatology. This phenomenon was amplified in the case of COVID-19. Past research on the repercussions of this pandemic on thanatological dimensions have focused on press representations in European and South American countries. Following on from this work, this article uses a qualitative methodology investigate themes and representations of death circulating in the Asian and Middle Eastern press between 2020 and 2021. A content analysis was carried out on a corpus of 56 articles, collected from a single database including articles from the international daily press. The analysis highlighted a number of common themes in the media representations: hospital systems, end-of-life conditions, farewell ceremonies, the state of funeral facilities, funeral practices and rituals, the use of communication technologies, the bereavement process, mental health and therapeutic prospects. In addition to these common themes are those specific to the Asian and Middle Eastern corpus: the roles of family carers, voluntary associations, transgression of the rules governing mortuary practices, and intra- and inter-community conflicts. At a meta-representational level, this study highlights the presence of a deregulated thanatological chain and the use of personal and social strategies to counter this extreme disorganisation.