10.26686/wgtn.12291104.v1 Giacomo Lichtner Giacomo Lichtner Forbidden mourning: how COVID-19 threatens our collective memory Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington 2020 Historical Studies Cultural Studies Performing Arts and Creative Writing Literary Studies Other Language, Communication and Culture History Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified 2020-05-13 00:01:01 Journal contribution https://openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/journal_contribution/Forbidden_mourning_how_COVID-19_threatens_our_collective_memory/12291104 This article reflects on a specific effect of the pandemic response: namely the impossibility of holding funerals. The article connects this especially grievous and emotional aspect to classical concepts of burial and the denial of burial, before arguing that the vulnerability of the elderly to Covi-19 poses an unprecedented threat to societies' collective memory.