Swedish Belief Narratives on Afterlife earlier and Today

Abstract

My aim is to examine afterlife beliefs in Sweden, partly from the late 1800s and the early 1900s, partly from the 2000s. It will be a contrastive study of two different periods and not a diachronic study of developments across a continuous stretch of time. Since this is a study of popular beliefs, ordinary people are in the center. My research questions are: What types of popular beliefs can be traced in the pre-industrial society? What types of beliefs are characteristic of the present-day society? Which differences and similarities can be found in belief narratives of these periods? How can scholars get information about belief in afterlife in older times and nowadays? In the 1800s this is documented through narratives in folklore archives and inscriptions on grave memorials, nowadays—by means of memorial websites on the Internet.

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