ABSTRACT
Public mourning, memorialization rituals, and collective narratives are all parts of the social meaning-making after mass violence. In the studied Finnish communities, in addition to official commemorations, other types of performative action occurred in both towns. A musical play and video art about the shooting were made by young people in Kauhajoki. Spontaneous memorialization happened at the national level as well. After the shooting in Jokela, text messages inviting people to light a candle in their window to honor the victims spread throughout the country. Online memorialization of the victims also occurred on Facebook and other social networking site (SNS) platforms. In Finland, the global form of spontaneous memorialization faced challenges in assimilating to the emotional culture of Kauhajoki, where attitudes toward public expression of emotions and vulnerability were negative as the regional identity emphasized stoicism and emotional reservedness.
