Suman Gupta is a professor of Literature and Cultural History at the Open University, UK, and honorary senior fellow at Roehampton University, UK.Mike Hajimichael is an associate professor at The University of Nicosia, Cyprus, in the Department of Communications.Milena Katsarska lectures in American studies at Plovdiv University, Bulgaria.Theodoros A. Spyros is a post-doctoral fellow of historical sociology at the University of Crete, and adjunct academic staff in the sociology and anthropology of sports at the Hellenic Open University.

• Introduction1. On Suicide Archives and Political Resonances - Suman Gupta2. The Irresistible Rise and Fall of Posthumous Bouazizi - Suman Gupta3. Austerity Annuls the Individual: Dimitris Christoulas and the Greek Financial Crisis - Theodoros A. Spyros and Mike Hajimichael4. Self-Immolations in Bulgaria: A Quietly Accumulating Record - Milena Katsarska5. Self-Effacing Suicides and Troubled Talk - Suman Gupta

An original study of those moments when the act of ending one’s own life can acquire public and political significance. The authors bring a fresh approach to an old problem: why individuals choose to end their lives and what meaning the act can have for those left behind.