Publisher's Synopsis
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 collection offers 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.
