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Part of
Discourse Studies in Public Communication
Edited by Eliecer Crespo-Fernández
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 92] 2021
► pp. 129–148

Chapter 6
Politics beyond death?

An analysis of the obituaries of Belgian politicians

ORCID logo | KU Leuven , Belgium
| KU Leuven , Belgium

Obituaries constitute interesting research material. Amongst other functions, they indicate how a society copes with death and the fear of dying. Obituaries reflect which personal and professional qualities the members of a particular culture or group in society consider important or relevant enough to be remembered in texts celebrating a deceased person. In this paper, we present the results of a bottom-up discourse analysis of the obituaries of one hundred Belgian politicians. The material comprises both obituaries published in the media and obituaries issued by the political party the deceased politician represented. On a content level, we focus on two aspects: the qualities mentioned and the presence of political orientation in the description of the deceased. On a linguistic level, we determine whether the metaphors used are politically inspired. The analysis carried out demonstrates that the obituaries of political figures – in which the political discourse and the discourse about the personal qualities of the deceased coexist – often turn into political propaganda.

Keywords: obituaries, political discourse, death discourse, discourse analysis, euphemistic language, metaphors
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical considerations
  • 3.Research material and method
  • 4.Analysis and results
    • 4.1Content analysis
    • 4.2Linguistic analysis
      • 4.2.1Lexical analysis
      • 4.2.2Metaphor analysis
  • 5.Discussion and concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.92.06hey
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