Changing Configurations of Día de Muertos during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This pioneering book offers insights into new configurations of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) [capital D should be in italics] during the COVID-19 pandemic within wider considerations of how the pandemic has shaped ideas about death and dying differently. It explores how commemorative and mourning practices changed in Mexico during the turbulent years of 2020-21 and, through its innovative case studies of Mexican communities in Ireland and the UK, asks how the festival contributed to global conversations about grief,mental health, and gender-based violence. Drawing fromoriginal textual andvisual analysis, the book engages with a range of Día de Muertosexpressions including masks, marches, altar-building,film, dance performance, calavera (skull) poetry production and community and home-based creative gestures, both online and in person. Through this analysis, we investigate how Mexicans and Mexicans abroad engaged with the rich compendium of Día de Muertos symbolic and narrative systems in order to discuss how the pandemic has framed ideas around loss and renewal more widely.