Ritualizing the Disposal of the Deceased

by William W. McCorkle, Jr.

By appealing to the evolved cognitive architecture of human minds, this book argues that ritualized disposal behavior is the by-product of mental systems designed to handle living people.

Ritualizing the Disposal of the Deceased

Author: William W. McCorkle, Jr.

Publisher: Peter Lang

ISBN: 9781433110108

Page: 182

View: 642

Ritualizing the Disposal of the Deceased traces mortuary behavior from the early fossil record to modern religious contexts in diverse cultural settings. By using archival and ethnographic evidence from Buddhist traditions, the author highlights the disparity between doctrines that contradict actual practices performed by Buddhists themselves. By appealing to the evolved cognitive architecture of human minds, this book argues that ritualized disposal behavior is the by-product of mental systems designed to handle living people. Due to complex social intelligence, humans are compelled to handle dead people in ritualized behaviors and to represent them in counterintuitive ways. The author also examines the professional religious guilds that have taken advantage of these ritualized compulsions over the last several thousand years, by giving and controlling the meanings behind these actions. Furthermore, experimental evidence is given to support this hypothesis, providing the first mature cognitive and evolutionary theory for mortuary behavior by humans.

Death and Dying

by Glennys Howarth

Such fragmented patterns enable mobility and visibility to both the living and the
dead who may now accompany them. ... We noted, however, that some
communities feared the dead and that ritualizing disposal was important in order
to ...

Death and Dying

Author: Glennys Howarth

Publisher: Polity

ISBN: 0745625339

Page: 301

View: 389

This stimulating new book provides a sophisticated introduction to the key issues in the sociology of death and dying. In recent years, the social sciences have seen an upsurge of interest in death and dying. The fascination with death is reflected in popular media such as newspapers, television documentaries, films and soaps, and, moreover, in the multiplying range of professional roles associated with dying and death. Yet despite its ubiquitous significance, the majority of texts in the field have been written primarily for health professionals. This book breaks with that tradition. It provides a cutting edge, comprehensive discussion of the key topics in death and dying and in so doing demonstrates that the study of mortality is germane to all areas of sociology. The book is organised thematically, utilising empirical material from cross-national and cross-cultural perspectives. It carefully addresses questions about social attitudes to mortality, the social nature of death and dying, explanations for change and diversity in approaches, and traditional, modern and postmodern experiences of death. Death and Dying will appeal to students across the social sciences, as well as professionals whose work brings them into contact with dying or bereaved people.

Routledge Handbook of Body Studies

by Bryan S Turner

McCorkle, W. W. (2010) Ritualizing the Disposal of Dead Bodies: From Corpse to
Concept. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Mellor, P. (1993) Death in high
modernity: the contemporary presence and absence of death. In D. Clark (ed.) ...

Routledge Handbook of Body Studies

Author: Bryan S Turner

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 1136903313

Page: 448

View: 642

In the last three decades, the human body has gained increasing prominence in contemporary political debates, and it has become a central topic of modern social sciences and humanities. Modern technologies – such as organ transplants, stem-cell research, nanotechnology, cosmetic surgery and cryonics – have changed how we think about the body. In this collection of thirty original essays by leading figures in the field, these issues are explored across a number of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, including pragmatism, feminism, queer theory, post-modernism, post-humanism, cultural sociology, philosophy and anthropology. A wide range of case studies, which include cosmetics, diet, organ transplants, racial bodies, masculinity and sexuality, eating disorders, religion and the sacred body, and disability, are used to appraise these different perspectives. In addition, this Handbook explores various epistemological approaches to the basic question: what is a body? It also offers a strongly themed range of chapters on empirical topics that are organized around religion, medicine, gender, technology and consumption. It also contributes to the debate over the globalization of the body: how have military technology, modern medicine, sport and consumption led to this contemporary obsession with matters corporeal? The Handbook’s clear, direct style will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience in the social sciences, particularly for those studying medical sociology, gender studies, sports studies, disability studies, social gerontology, or the sociology of religion. It will serve to consolidate the new field of body studies.

Corpse Encounters

by Jacqueline Elam

This book takes a critical glance at the ritualized practices of death—corpse preparation, disposal, and aesthetic representation—and examines the workings of aesthetics that shape corpses, as well as the ways in which corpses spill ...

Corpse Encounters

Author: Jacqueline Elam

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

ISBN: 1498543944

Page: 206

View: 629

This book takes a critical glance at the ritualized practices of death—corpse preparation, disposal, and aesthetic representation—and examines the workings of aesthetics that shape corpses, as well as the ways in which corpses spill over, resisting aestheticization.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

by D. Jason Slone

The Cognitive Science of Religion introduces students to key empirical studies conducted over the past 25 years in this new and rapidly expanding field.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

Author: D. Jason Slone

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 1350033707

Page: 320

View: 456

The Cognitive Science of Religion introduces students to key empirical studies conducted over the past 25 years in this new and rapidly expanding field. In these studies, cognitive scientists of religion have applied the theories, findings and research tools of the cognitive sciences to understanding religious thought, behaviour and social dynamics. Each chapter is written by a leading international scholar, and summarizes in non-technical language the original empirical study conducted by the scholar. No prior or statistical knowledge is presumed, and studies included range from the classic to the more recent and innovative cases. Students will learn about the theories that cognitive scientists have employed to explain recurrent features of religiosity across cultures and historical eras, how scholars have tested those theories, and what the results of those tests have revealed and suggest. Written to be accessible to undergraduates, this provides a much-needed survey of empirical studies in the cognitive science of religion.

The Archaeology of Anxiety

by Jeffrey Fleisher

It seems clear that the disposal of the dead at the Zvejnieki sites was carried out
in a ritualized manner. The ritual can be viewed as a strategy to reduce anxiety
by controlling chaos through prescribed, formalized, and invariant ritual practices.

The Archaeology of Anxiety

Author: Jeffrey Fleisher

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 1493932314

Page: 215

View: 367

Recent efforts to engage more explicitly with the interpretation of emotions in archaeology have sought new approaches and terminology to encourage archaeologists to take emotions seriously. This is part of a growing awareness of the importance of senses—what we see, smell, hear, and feel—in the constitution and reconstitution of past social and cultural lives. Yet research on emotion in archaeology remains limited, despite the fact that such states underpin many studies of socio-cultural transformation. The Archaeology of Anxiety draws together papers that examine the local complexities of anxiety as well as the variable stimuli—class or factional struggle, warfare, community construction and maintenance, personal turmoil, and responsibilities to (and relationships with) the dead—that may generate emotional responses of fear, anxiousness, worry, and concern. The goal of this timely volume is to present fresh research that addresses the material dimension of rites and performances related to the mitigation and negotiation of anxiety as well as the role of material culture and landscapes in constituting and even creating periods or episodes of anxiety.

Embodied Rituals and Ritualized Bodies

by Liv Nilsson Stutz

diversity in how people to deal ritually with their dead; what different
interpretations they give to their actions; how ... by several ways of disposal of the
dead, and that variation in these ways of disposal indicates differences in social
status.

Embodied Rituals and Ritualized Bodies

Author: Liv Nilsson Stutz

Publisher: Almqvist & Wiksell International

ISBN:

Page: 395

View: 402

This is a Ph.D. dissertation. This thesis explores the ritual dimensions of the mortuary practices in the Late Mesolithic cemeteries at Skateholm in Southern Sweden and Vedbaeck-Bogebakken in Eastern Denmark. With a combination of methods and theories tha

Back of Town Blues

by D.G. Compton

But thenotions that thebodyitself, once dead,shouldbe revered, and its disposal
ritualized, wereto him distasteful –one might as well revereawornout torch battery
or ritualize its dumping.One might more reasonably doso,in fact, sinceat least ...

Back of Town Blues

Author: D.G. Compton

Publisher: Hachette UK

ISBN: 0575118091

Page: 208

View: 372

Alec Duncan, King of Swing, it says on the billboard outside Tony's. a black man playing a white piano; just what you need to tart up a dodgy Liverpool nightspot. Forty quid a session, plus tips - about all a black Scots ex-copper with nimble fingers and a record of violence on the job can hope for. But now, with Trevor Bladon, his girlfriend's killer, safely banged up for the rest of his natural, it's time for Alex to put it all behind him. Get on with his life. But first he needs to go and sort out a couple of things with Trevor in his cell. He's not sure exactly why, but he goes anyway. And it's not a good idea - he ends up prime suspect in another murder . . .

A Companion to the Archaeology of Religion in the Ancient World

by Rubina Raja

Cremation was probably still the most‐used means of disposing of the dead, but
there were many variations. ... Bog bodies, many of which show signs of violent
and ritualized murder, have been found in the peat sphagnum bogs of Ireland, ...

A Companion to the Archaeology of Religion in the Ancient World

Author: Rubina Raja

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 1444350005

Page: 520

View: 699

A Companion to the Archaeology of Religion in the Ancient World presents a comprehensive overview of a wide range of topics relating to the practices, expressions, and interactions of religion in antiquity, primarily in the Greco-Roman world. • Features readings that focus on religious experience and expression in the ancient world rather than solely on religious belief • Places a strong emphasis on domestic and individual religious practice • Represents the first time that the concept of “lived religion” is applied to the ancient history of religion and archaeology of religion • Includes cutting-edge data taken from top contemporary researchers and theorists in the field • Examines a large variety of themes and religious traditions across a wide geographical area and chronological span • Written to appeal equally to archaeologists and historians of religion

Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome

by Donald G. Kyle

Although moderns have overlooked the idea, flowing water offered a logistically
sensible and emotionally satisfying answer to the problem of disposal of corpses
from arenas at Rome. When Rome transposed theatrical abuse and ritualized ...

Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome

Author: Donald G. Kyle

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 1134862725

Page: 304

View: 219

The elaborate and inventive slaughter of humans and animals in the arena fed an insatiable desire for violent spectacle among the Roman people. Donald G. Kyle combines the words of ancient authors with current scholarly research and cross-cultural perspectives, as he explores * the origins and historical development of the games * who the victims were and why they were chosen * how the Romans disposed of the thousands of resulting corpses * the complex religious and ritual aspects of institutionalised violence * the particularly savage treatment given to defiant Christians. This lively and original work provides compelling, sometimes controversial, perspectives on the bloody entertainments of ancient Rome, which continue to fascinate us to this day.

Mental Culture

by Dimitris Xygalatas

"Mental Culture" brings together an international range of scholars - from Anthropology, History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Religious Studies - to answer these questions.

Mental Culture

Author: Dimitris Xygalatas

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 1317546083

Page: 268

View: 498

Why is the set of human beliefs and behaviours that we call "religion" such a widespread feature of all known human societies, past and present, and why are there so many forms of religiosity found throughout history and culture? "Mental Culture" brings together an international range of scholars - from Anthropology, History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Religious Studies - to answer these questions. Connecting classical theories and approaches with the newly established field of the Cognitive Science of Religion, the aim of "Mental Culture" is to provide scholars and students of religion with an overview of contemporary scientific approaches to religion while tracing their intellectual development to some of the great thinkers of the past.

Living and the Dead The

by Liz Wilson

What followed then was indeed the ritualized removal of the dead from society, a
polluting task that fell on the ... by the temporary disposal of the corpse) followed
by reinstallation (represented by subsequent rites), when the deceased and the ...

Living and the Dead The

Author: Liz Wilson

Publisher: SUNY Press

ISBN: 0791487016

Page: 224

View: 568

Explores the social treatment of death in South Asian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other traditions. Includes material on women and marginalized groups.

Anatomy Museum

by Elizabeth Hallam

This book investigates anatomy museums in Western settings, revealing how they have operated in the often passionate pursuit of knowledge that inspires both fascination and fear.

Anatomy Museum

Author: Elizabeth Hallam

Publisher: Reaktion Books

ISBN: 1780236042

Page: 408

View: 615

The wild success of the traveling Body Worlds exhibition is testimony to the powerful allure that human bodies can have when opened up for display in gallery spaces. But while anatomy museums have shown their visitors much about bodies, they themselves are something of an obscure phenomenon, with their incredible technological developments and complex uses of visual images and the flesh itself remaining largely under researched. This book investigates anatomy museums in Western settings, revealing how they have operated in the often passionate pursuit of knowledge that inspires both fascination and fear. Elizabeth Hallam explores these museums, past and present, showing how they display the human body—whether naked, stripped of skin, completely dissected, or rendered in the form of drawings, three-dimensional models, x-rays, or films. She identifies within anatomy museums a diverse array of related issues—from the representation of deceased bodies in art to the aesthetics of science, from body donation to techniques for preserving corpses and ritualized practices for disposing of the dead. Probing these matters through in-depth study, Anatomy Museum unearths a strange and compelling cultural history of the spaces human bodies are made to occupy when displayed after death.

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

by

The actual disposal of the dead body is generally handled in a number of ritual -
bearing scenes or episodes . ... since it is through ritualized actions , organized
into episodes or scenes , that both the dead and the living are moved on to new ...

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

Author:

Publisher:

ISBN:

Page:

View: 770

Funerals in Africa

by Michael Jindra

Burial has become the only way of disposing of the dead, and the hyenas—
important animals in Kikuyu tradition—no ... to scavengers no longer classifies
individuals according to their own social achievements in a ritualized and
hierarchical ...

Funerals in Africa

Author: Michael Jindra

Publisher: Berghahn Books

ISBN: 0857452061

Page: 244

View: 268

Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.

Dying Death and Bereavement 2000 2001

by George E. Dickinson

AT YOUR DISPOSAL The funeral industry prepares for boom times THE DEATH
POETRY OF EMILY DICKINSON ... see it , the baby boomers , who are now
making decisions about how to dispose of their loved ones , are " under -
ritualized .

Dying Death and Bereavement 2000 2001

Author: George E. Dickinson

Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin

ISBN: 9780072333749

Page: 229

View: 546

Encyclopedia of the Ancient World Overviews Abd al Malik Corinthian War

by Thomas J. Sienkewicz

Mortality, death, and the unknown were ritualized out of a mixture of affection for
the deceased, awe of death's ... Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America are
mirrors of Stone Age views concerning the soul, the hereafter, and corpse
disposal.

Encyclopedia of the Ancient World Overviews Abd al Malik Corinthian War

Author: Thomas J. Sienkewicz

Publisher: Salem PressInc

ISBN: 9780893560393

Page: 1275

View: 871

Covers world cultures from prehistory through the year 700 C.E., including essays on persons, cultures, wars, battles, documents or works, traditions or cultural phenomena, structures or artifacts, places or sites, terms, and groups or civilizations.

Death Memory and Material Culture

by Elizabeth Hallam

In the maintenance of memory spaces , the care of memory objects and in the
ritualized making of memories at the site of the ... Furthermore , we have seen
that dying , death , disposal and mourning are experienced as tangible life crises
that ...

Death Memory and Material Culture

Author: Elizabeth Hallam

Publisher: Berg Publishers

ISBN:

Page: 249

View: 906

· How do the living maintain ongoing relationships with the dead in Western societies? · How have the residual belongings of the dead been used to evoke memories? · Why has the body and its material environment remained so important in memory-making? Objects, images, practices, and places remind us of the deaths of others and of our own mortality. At the time of death, embodied persons disappear from view, their relationships with others come under threat and their influence may cease. Emotionally, socially, politically, much is at stake at the time of death. In this context, memories and memory-making can be highly charged, and often provide the dead with a social presence amongst the living. Memories of the dead are a bulwark against the terror of forgetting, as well as an inescapable outcome of a life’s ending. Objects in attics, gardens, museums, streets and cemeteries can tell us much about the processes of remembering. This unusual and absorbing book develops perspectives in anthropology and cultural history to reveal the importance of material objects in experiences of grief, mourning and memorializing. Far from being ‘invisible’, the authors show how past generations, dead friends and lovers remain manifest – through well-worn garments, letters, photographs, flowers, residual drops of perfume, funerary sculpture. Tracing the rituals, gestures and materials that have been used to shape and preserve memories of personal loss, Hallam and Hockey show how material culture provides the deceased with a powerful presence within the here and now.