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Death Notice Norms

Obituary posters on the streets of Accra - highlighting the deceased, name, nickname, age, extended family and chief mourners (above), and death notice from Chalus, Iran (below). Whether the information on the poster is, or needs to be accurate? 110 year old called to glory above.

What does the prioritisation of information that appears on these posters tell us about local values in Ghana? What information is missing compared to a similar notice in your own culture? You have these posters in your culture right?

Next time you have the opportunity to pick up a non-local newspaper check out the obits. Personal favourite: the contrast between the size of Chinese families in mainland China after the one child policy kicked in vs. the Chinese diaspora - its not uncommon to see 60+ names listed under the extended family of mourners.

Related: the cost differentiation between types of use in a Accra toilet - updated to reflect first hand experiences of one-time Accra resident Ethan

Writing from Tokyo | January 8, 2008 | Permalink