Digital Afterlife as a Technology of Queer Transformation

Abstract

This chapter brings postdigital theory and queer theology into dialogue through the specific context of digital afterlife. It begins by outlining some of the points of alignment between queer theology and postdigital theory and highlighting why the development of postdigital theologies would benefit from engagement with queer theology. It then posits two related transformations that digital afterlife enacts in both the relationships that the living can form with the deceased and the nature of ‘what lives on’ after death. This chapter then argues that not only does queer theology provide a useful framework for understanding these transformations but because these transformations disrupt existing social norms then they should be understood as themselves queer. This chapter concludes by suggesting that the example of digital afterlife underscores the value of engaging with queer theology and other contextual theologies in the ongoing development of postdigital theologies.KeywordsQueer theologyDigital afterlifeQueer temporalitiesSociabilityPostdigital