The Anthropology of Death Revisited

Engelke, Matthew

doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102218-011420

Cited by 36 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 122 publications

(91 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…6 The handling and memorialisation of dead bodies are often most distressing in those cases where they are considered not to happen properly. [7][8][9][10] If the proper rites are not performed, the dead may remain both vulnerable themselves and dangerous to the living. A 'bad death', hence, is one where the appropriate process is not followed, and where the deceased is not given the dignity she is due by the bereaved.…”

Section: Summary Boxmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a rapid qualitative study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dealing with excess death in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the question of a ‘good or bad death’ into sharp relief as countries across the globe have grappled with multiple peaks of cases and mortality; and communities mourn those lost. In the UK, these challenges have included the fact that mortality has adversely affected minority communities. Corpse disposal and social distancing guidelines do not allow a process of mourning in which families and communities can be involved in the dying process. This study aimed to examine the main concerns of faith and non-faith communities across the UK in relation to death in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research team used rapid ethnographic methods to examine the adaptations to the dying process prior to hospital admission, during admission, during the disposal and release of the body, during funerals and mourning. The study revealed that communities were experiencing collective loss, were making necessary adaptations to rituals that surrounded death, dying and mourning and would benefit from clear and compassionate communication and consultation with authorities.

show abstract

Section: Summary Boxmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a rapid qualitative study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As Verdery explains, dead bodies are "heavy symbols" (1999,127). They are the thing that is always more than a thing (Engelke 2019). This presents an opportunity to create distinction from mined counterparts, which are unable to materially embody this symbolic weight as efficiently as memorial lab-grown stones.…”

Section: Mediations: Realness Symbolic Matter and Natural Humannessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Memorial diamonds have much in common with objects of commemoration more broadly. Cultural anthropologists and (bio)archaeologists have long been interested in the connections between loss, memory, and material culture as it "mediates our relationship with death and the dead" (Hallam and Hockey 2001, 2; see also Bille, Hastru, and Soerensen 2010;Engelke 2019;Maddrell and Sidaway 2010). Memorial diamonds are by no means the first example of human remains acting as a memory artifact.…”

Section: Valuation: Likeness Reference and Semiotic Instabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

From Ashes to Diamonds

Calvão

Bell

2021

TSANTSA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the making and makers of “memorial diamonds.” These are “natural” diamonds identical to gemstones found in nature but produced in laboratories with carbon sourced from genetic material (cremation ashes) or other objects of symbolic and emotional value. Threading corporality and objectified life forms, we examine the transformation from ashes to the “afterlife” of these “living” objects that are at once synthetic and organic. We ask, first, what material and affective properties distinguish synthetic diamonds from those extracted from nature? Second, how are these living and memorialized representations of inert substances – in continuity with bodily elements of the deceased – valued and mediated through “real” human, though artificially grown, natural objects? Drawing from research with the leading companies in the memorial diamond business in Switzerland and the United States, this article suggests that these diamonds’ singular connection to the human body offer a window into the transmutations between nature and the artificial, memory and material likeness, life and death.

show abstract

“…This domain raises pressing questions about “who owns death?”; these questions lead to inquiries about sovereignty and authority (Grant, 2011 ; Bernstein, 2019 ). These cases reveal whose power counts, “who presides over the funeral, who certifies the death, who serves as custodian…,” (Engelke, 2019 ) and who can show legitimacy to “own” the body.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Normal to Viral Body: Death Rituals During Ordinary and Extraordinary Covidian Times in Pakistan

Ali

2021

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Death is far from being simply a physiologic event; it is a complex phenomenon with sociocultural and politicoeconomic aspects. During extraordinary times such as the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, death becomes a contested site. I argue that the Pakistani government's dealings with the bodies of people who die from COVID-19 have shifted the meaning of a normal dead body to a viral body that poses particular challenges to cultures and people, including the government. This article is both autoethnographic and ethnographic. It concurrently draws on my observations and participation in death rituals in a Pakistani village in Sindh province as a member of that society, and on a recent experience that I faced after the death of a gentle lady of my acquaintance due to COVID-19. I also build on my previous long-term ethnographic research in Pakistan and my ongoing research on COVID-19 in that country. I discuss the death rituals and ceremonies performed during “ordinary” situations as background information; and the changes in these rituals that have resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. My data demonstrate significant differences between usual and customary death rituals and those performed during Covidian times by government mandate, which have severely and negatively affected people's mental health. I show the government's “symbolic ownership” of the viral body, in that the government can control how people deal with their viral dead.

show abstract

The Anthropology of Death Revisited

Cited by 36 publications

References 122 publications

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a rapid qualitative study

‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a rapid qualitative study

From Ashes to Diamonds

From Normal to Viral Body: Death Rituals During Ordinary and Extraordinary Covidian Times in Pakistan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About