Robot death care: A study of funerary practice. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gould, Hannah; Arnold, Michael; Kohn, Tamara; Nansen, Bjørn; Gibbs, Martin
• Other Names: Gibson Margaret guest-editor.; Hjorth Larissa guest-editor.; Choi Jaz Hee-jeong guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of cultural studies. Volume 24:Number 4(2021)
• Page Start: 603
• Page End: 621
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: automation -- care -- death -- funeral -- humans and non-humans -- robots -- transhumanism; Culture -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1367877920939093
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-8779

Abstract

Across the globe, human experiences of death, dying, and grief are now shaped by digital technologies and, increasingly, by robotic technologies. This article explores how practices of care for the dead are transformed by the participation of non-human, mechanised agents. We ask what makes a particular robot engagement with death a breach or an affirmation of care for the dead by examining recent entanglements between humans, death, and robotics. In particular, we consider telepresence robots for remote attendance of funerals; semi-humanoid robots officiating in a religious capacity at memorial services; and the conduct of memorial services by robots, for robots. Using the activities of robots to ground our discussion, this article speaks to broader cultural anxieties emerging in an era of high-tech life and high-tech death, which involve tensions between human affect and technological effect, machinic work and artisanal work, humans and non-humans, and subjects and objects.