Social Autopsy of the Kiss Nightclub Fire

Abstract

This article offers a social autopsy of the Kiss Nightclub Fire and an exploration of the networks of trauma and reconstruction in its wake. We present a critical analysis of the social and political conditions that created this large-scale tragedy, placing these in the context of political conflict and profit-seeking in Brazil’s recent past. We trace the trauma of the fire in a network of survivors and family members in Rio Grande do Sul and beyond, and the contrasting ways they have sought to make sense of and respond to the fire with political action and/or spiritual exploration.

Keywords

• boate kiss
• kiss nightclub
• social autopsy
• trauma
• spiritism
• kardecism
• santa maria