Geospatial Investigations of Deathscapes and Remembrance Practices
Summary
Geospatial investigations of deathscapes and remembrance practices encompass the systematic study of spatial dimensions of death, mourning and memory across diverse cultural contexts. Drawing upon spatial data, cartographic methods and qualitative approaches, scholars map and analyse sites of burial, commemoration and disappearance to uncover how landscapes are inscribed with social and political meanings. This field examines both material infrastructures—such as cemeteries, war memorials and roadside shrines—and fluid thresholds where rituals of mourning enact the boundary between life and death. It interrogates the dynamics of power, identity and community embedded in spatial arrangements, exploring how memoryscapes can sustain national narratives, local resistances and transnational connections. Technological advances in geographic information systems and remote sensing facilitate fine-grained geovisualisation of sites that were previously inaccessible, while ethnographic mapping reveals the lived experiences of bereavement and absence. From analysing the spatial choreography of memorial parks to tracing suicide journeys through urban environments, geospatial research illuminates the global significance of deathscapes, offering practical applications for heritage management, urban planning and public health interventions. By bridging quantitative and qualitative traditions, this emerging paradigm reshapes our understanding of how societies navigate mortality through space.
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Geospatial Investigations of Deathscapes and Remembrance Practices publication trend
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Technical terms
Deathscape: The spatial and material configurations through which societies encounter, represent and manage death.
Remembrance practice: Culturally informed activities and rituals that commemorate the deceased and inscribe collective memory in physical spaces.
Geospatial analysis: The use of spatial data and computational techniques to examine geographical patterns and relationships.
Geovisualisation: The visual representation of spatial data, often through mapping platforms, to reveal patterns in socio-cultural landscapes.
Spatial threshold: A liminal zone or boundary in space that marks a transition between states, such as life and death, or sacred and profane areas.
References
- Mourners who can not mourn: Argentina's Parque de la Memoria as a spatial threshold of memory. Political Geography (2023).
- Suicidal journeys: attempted suicide as geographies of intended death. Social & Cultural Geography (2015).
- They Are Preserved Forever: Visualising the Memorialisation of Archipelagic Religious and Community Identities. Religions (2021).
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