Burial Poster Speaks: Communications Of Age, Bereavement And Grief Following Loss Of Loved Ones In Ebonyi State, Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IV, April 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Burial Poster Speaks: Communications Of Age, Bereavement And Grief Following Loss Of Loved Ones In Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Ekpechu, Joseph Ogbonnaya Alo (Ph.d)¹, Onuoha, Ogobuchi Onuoha², Bukola Popoola³, Takob Clementine Seh^4
1Sociology Department Faculty Of Management/Social Sciences Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ebonyi State, Nigeria
²Sociology Department Ebonyi State University Abakaliki
³,⁴Sociology Department Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo Ebonyi State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT
This study examined the extent to which captions in burial posters communicate age, bereavement and grief of loss of loved ones in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Data for the research were sourced from 32 burial posters found in three locations in the area, and qualitative data on grieving gotten from bereaved family members. It was found among other things that captions in burial posters communicate the age of the deceased depicting death as being timely or untimely. Captions in burial posters convey social status of the deceased upon death. Age is not a major determinant of grieving as expressed in burial posters. Variations exist for premature deaths depicted in burial posters. Age at death of the deceased was the major determinant of the kind of captions found in burial posters. Untimely deaths are captioned differently from timely deaths. Expression of grieving for untimely deaths could be higher than grieving for timely deaths. It was concluded that age at death intervened for the kind of captions found in burial posters.

Key Words: Bereavement, burial posters, captions, communicate age, grief, loss of loved ones

1. Introduction
Death is a recurring phenomenon in the world. In a bid to let people know the loss of a loved one, date of burial and wake keep one usually communicated to the public using catchy captions usually expressed in burial posters. It is pertinent to note that some people could develop and/or have fear for death more than other people (Momtaz, Haron, Ibrahim & Hamid 2015). The way bereaved members produce burial posters of the deceased at all cost could be a cause of concern to many. Authors had not done enough work on the importance of captions in burial posters communicating the age of the deceased and the extent of grieving following such captions. This study had not been done by many authors in Nigeria. Previous studies had not identified the captions that follow age of the deceased upon death in burial posters. This study tried to fill this gap in knowledge.

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