Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405114711 ISBN 13: 9781405114714

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005

Synopsis

In Death, Mourning, and Burial, an indispensable introduction to the anthropology of death, readers will find a rich selection of some of the finest ethnographic work on this fascinating topic.

• Comprised of six sections that mirror the social trajectory of death: conceptualizations of death; death and dying; uncommon death; grief and mourning; mortuary rituals; and remembrance and regeneration
• Includes canonical readings as well as recent studies on topics such as organ donation and cannibalism
• Designed for anyone concerned with issues of death and dying, as well as: violence, terrorism, war, state terror, organ theft, and mortuary rituals
• Serves as a text for anthropology classes, as well as providing a genuinely cross-cultural perspective to all those studying death and dying

About this title

Book Description:

There are few topics that stir the imagination more than the study of how humans across cultures have dealt with the inevitable and universally shared experience of death. In Death, Mourning, and Burial, an indispensable introduction to the anthropology of death, readers will find a rich selection of some of the finest ethnographic work on this fascinating topic. This collectionoffers cross-cultural readings that span the period from dying to afterlife, approach this transition as a social process, and demonstrate the great variation of cultural responses to death.Death, Mourning, and Burial is divided into six parts that mirror the social trajectory of death: conceptualizations of death; death and dying; uncommon death; grief and mourning; mortuary rituals; and remembrance and regeneration. Each part includes one or two foundational texts on the anthropology of death---on topics such as the disruption of social ties and their restoration through ritual---as well as recent and exciting studies that demonstrate the intellectual breadth of the anthropology of death, such as those on organ donation, "disappearances," and cannibalism.Not only will Death, Mourning, and Burial serve as a sourcebook and primary text for anthropology classes, it will provide a fine-grained book designed to bring a genuinely cross-cultural perspective to all those studying death and dying..

About the Author:

Antonius C. G. M. Robben is Professor of Anthropology at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and past President of the Netherlands Society of Anthropology. His recent books are Cultures under Siege: Collective Violence and Trauma (edited with Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, 2000) and Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina (2005).

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1405114711
• ISBN 13: 9781405114714
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Robben Antonius C. G. M.