Virtual Mourning in a Collectivist Culture: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology of Filipino Grief and Continuing Bonds on Facebook

Abstract

This study is among the first to examine Filipino digital mourning through a theory-driven hermeneutic phenomenological lens, illuminating grief as a culturally grounded and relationally embedded experience. It investigates how bereaved Filipinos utilize Facebook to ritualize grief and sustain enduring bonds with the deceased. Anchored in Continuing Bonds Theory and enriched by Narrative Identity, Relational Models, and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theories, the analysis focuses on grief expressions manifested in the digital platform. Ten anonymized interviews were reanalyzed through interpretive immersion in lived experience, consistent with hermeneutic phenomenology. Findings reveal that digital mourning within this collectivist context facilitates participatory rituals and sustained emotional connections that challenge individualistic assumptions in dominant Western grief models. By foregrounding the cultural, symbolic, and relational dimensions of online bereavement, the study advances grief theory and underscores the need for culturally responsive, digitally attuned support systems.