A stereotypical interview includes a memorial service that is generally sad and filled with grief. However, in Ghanaian culture, this is not the case. Ghanaian funerals are more like giant blowout parties that bring in everyone from the neighborhood regardless of whether or not they knew the deceased. It's a time of celebration and everyone is invited.
When most people think about their belongings after they die, they usually think about their physical possessions like money, clothes, books. What people don't really think about are their Facebook profiles or their twitter accounts. These are all things that will exist after you don't and they are all ways of showing who you were as a person for the world to see.
I chose these articles because they weren't on the general topic of caring for the dead. in fact, they were the abnormal of what people generally think about in terms of care of the dead. I found it interesting that instead of grieving and mourning, the Ghanaians celebrate and bring in people from all over the community as a way of dealing with the loss. It seems like a great way to grieve for a person; to let everyone in town know that someone has recently been lost and that you aren't going to let that person go in sadness. I also feel that no one really takes into account their profiles online or their blogs or their web albums as online memorials of who they are once they've died. It's fascinating to think that those will live on longer than any of us will.
For the interview, I did not have the time to set one up but when I get the chance, I will post it here.
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