Ephemeral materiality: a place for lifeless infants in cemeteries

Charrier, Philippe; Clavandier, Gaëlle

doi:10.1080/13576275.2019.1585785

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…What happens to a dead foetal body depends on its classification (Morgan, 2002) -it may be classified as a biological entity and specimen (Morgan, 1999) or as an organism with utility value (Pfeffer & Kent, 2007). Or it may be understood as a person, in need of disposal as a human corpse alongside other human bodies, as has been noted in France (Charrier & Clavandier, 2019). Similar classificatory tensions have been reported in the disposal of other pregnancy tissues such as the placenta (Yoshizawa & Hird, 2019).…”

Section: The Dead Foetal Being: Human Tissue or Human Corpse?mentioning

confidence: 78%

Pregnancy remains, infant remains, or the corpse of a child? The incoherent governance of the dead foetal body in England

Middlemiss

2020

Mortality

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In English law, the conventional view is that human personhood is produced by live birth, kinship is produced by relations between persons, and corpses are produced on the death of persons, which are then buried or cremated. Beings produced by human pregnancy which do not fit these discursive categories are classified as 'pregnancy remains', have no personhood or kinship, and their disposal is regulated as human tissue. However, this paper argues that the governance of the dead, born, foetal body in England, in fact, produces forms of foetal personhood, through the regulation of the material dead bodies of foetuses and babies. Furthermore, the assignment of responsibility for disposal and post-mortem decisions to kin of the dead foetal being also produces a relational form of foetal personhood. The examination of second-trimester pregnancy loss in England through fieldwork with women who have experienced foetal death, premature labour, and termination for foetal anomaly before 24 weeks' gestation reveals how governance of the dead, born, foetal body in England is incoherent.It also illustrates the effects of this incoherence on parental choices about the range of actions available after pregnancy loss in relation to the material body of the foetal being or baby.

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Section: The Dead Foetal Being: Human Tissue or Human Corpse?mentioning

confidence: 78%

Pregnancy remains, infant remains, or the corpse of a child? The incoherent governance of the dead foetal body in England

Middlemiss

2020

Mortality

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“…If the survival of a baby was uncertain, it became the duty of any layperson to baptise ( in articulo mortis ). Baptism in the womb was prohibited (Hausmair, 2017, p. 213; Orme, 2001, p. 124), but any emerging limb would enable the ceremony to be conducted (Charrier & Clavandier, 2019, p. 194; Hausmair, 2017, pp. 211–213; Shahar, 1990, p. 49).…”

Section: Infant Burial In Late Medieval Europementioning

confidence: 99%

“…6,21–22). Parents were thus left with the horrifying prospect that their infants would be separated both physically and spiritually from the rest of the community dead (Charrier & Clavandier, 2019, p. 193; Hausmair, 2017, p. 211).…”

Section: Infant Burial In Late Medieval Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Blood is thicker than baptismal water: A late medieval perinatal burial in a small household chest

Cootes

Thomas²,

Jordan

et al. 2021

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The interment of stillborn infants in later medieval burial grounds stands at odds with Catholic Church Law, which forbade the inclusion of unbaptised children within consecrated ground. When perinatal remains occur within graveyards, their interpretation can be problematic. Did they live to be baptised, or do such examples represent clandestine burials? Historical documents indicate that some parents disobeyed the Church and secretly buried their offspring within consecrated ground. Proving such actions in the archaeological record, however, is another matter. This paper therefore investigates the discovery of a perinatal burial (Sk953) within a rural graveyard at Poulton in Cheshire, England, placed in a small household box. A multifaceted approach was used to interpret the varying strands of evidence. These comprised church law, the birth, container, orientation of the corpse, local topography, date of burial, and status of the graveyard when the infant was interred. The authors interpret the evidence as characteristic of a clandestine burial, and a rare expression of grief and love visible in the archaeological record.

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From technical measures to moral obligations: The management and fate of fragmented human remains following disasters. The case of a plane crash in France in 2015*

Clavandier

2022

Death Studies

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Ephemeral materiality: a place for lifeless infants in cemeteries

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Pregnancy remains, infant remains, or the corpse of a child? The incoherent governance of the dead foetal body in England

Pregnancy remains, infant remains, or the corpse of a child? The incoherent governance of the dead foetal body in England

Blood is thicker than baptismal water: A late medieval perinatal burial in a small household chest

From technical measures to moral obligations: The management and fate of fragmented human remains following disasters. The case of a plane crash in France in 2015*

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