Sensibilities, Social Networks and Images of Death: some clues bout the "politics of gazes" in the processes of social structuration

DUPERRÉ, JORGE LUIS; PEDRO LISDERO

Global emotions communications. Narratives, tecchnology, and Power

Nova Science Publisher, Inc

Año: 2022; p. 171 - 194

The proliferation of images in everyday life and the enthronement of the sense of sight are marks of Western modernity and, at the same time, a keystone from which to understand its mutations. The dissemination of images on/via the internet, and particularly those images linked to the treatment that our societies “give” to death, can constitute a place from which to question “the times we live in”. It is for this reason that we have collected and present here a series of “images” shared by representatives of the Argentinean funeral sector -specifically those in charge of the preparation of corpses for their subsequent ritualised exhibition-, in their corporate or personal digital profiles. In short, we consider that the experience of looking at these images-photographs on/through social networks can be a relevant indicator of the social sensibilities that characterise this era. Based on these analytical axes, we propose the following argumentative scheme: the first section establishes some theoretical starting points, which allow us to connect death, photography, and processes of social structuration. In the second section, we establish some “clues”, presented around images and notes taken from social networks, which make it possible to establish concrete lines of analysis about the regimes of sensibilities: “the business of death” and its profusion in digital environments. In the conclusions, we take up some particular contributions that allow us to understand the centrality of “the politics of the gaze” in the structuring of sensibilities: we highlight its particular present “form” (the metamorphosis of sentiment around death as an indicator of structuring processes), and the peculiarity of the scope in/because of its relation to the digital world/social networks.