Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader (The Human Lifecycle: Cross-Cultural Readings)

336 Pages·2005·1.97 MB·English

by  Antonius C. G. M. Robben

Robben/Death,MourningandBurial FinalProof 25.9.2004 3:52am page1
Death, Mourning, and Burial
Robben/Death,MourningandBurial FinalProof 25.9.2004 3:52am page2
Robben/Death,MourningandBurial FinalProof 25.9.2004 3:52am page3
Death, Mourning, and Burial
A Cross-Cultural Reader
Edited by
Antonius C. G. M. Robben
Robben/Death,MourningandBurial FinalProof 25.9.2004 3:52am page4
Editorialmaterialandorganization(cid:1)2004byBlackwellPublishingLtd
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Death,mourning,andburial:across-culturalreader/editedbyAntoniusC.G.M.
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN1-4051-1470-3(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN1-4051-1471-1(pbk.:alk.paper)1.Funeral
ritesandceremonies–Cross-culturalstudies.2.Mourningcustoms–Cross-culturalstudies.3.Death–
Socialaspects–Cross-culturalstudies.I.Robben,AntoniusC.G.M.
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Robben/Death,MourningandBurial FinalProof 25.9.2004 3:52am page5
Contents
Acknowledgments viii
DeathandAnthropology:AnIntroduction 1
AntoniusC.G.M.Robben
PartI ConceptualizationsofDeath 17
1 Magic,ScienceandReligion 19
BronislawMalinowski
2 TheTerrorofDeath 23
ErnestBecker
3 SymbolicImmortality 32
RobertJayLiftonandEricOlson
4 TheHourofOurDeath 40
PhilippeAri`es
5 HowOthersDie:ReflectionsontheAnthropologyofDeath 49
JohannesFabian
PartII DeathandDying 63
6 DeathOmensinaBretonMemorate 65
EllenBadone
v
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Contents
7 TheMeaningofDeathinNorthernCheyenneCulture 71
AnneS.Straus
8 KindsofDeathandtheHouse 77
Mar´ıaCa´tedra
9 DisplacingSuffering:TheReconstructionofDeathinNorthAmericaandJapan 91
MargaretLock
PartIII UncommonDeath 113
10 Witchcraft,OraclesandMagicamongtheAzande 115
E.E.Evans-Pritchard
11 BurialAlive 122
GodfreyLienhardt
12 StateTerrorintheNetherworld:DisappearanceandReburialinArgentina 134
AntoniusC.G.M.Robben
PartIV GriefandMourning 149
13 TheAndamanIslanders 151
A.R.Radcliffe-Brown
14 MetaphorsofMediationinGreekFuneralLaments 156
LoringM.Danforth
15 GriefandaHeadhunter’sRage 167
RenatoRosaldo
16 DeathWithoutWeeping 179
NancyScheper-Hughes
PartV MortuaryRituals 195
17 AContributiontotheStudyoftheCollectiveRepresentationofDeath 197
RobertHertz
18 TheRitesofPassage 213
ArnoldvanGennep
19 ThePhaseofNegatedDeath 224
HikaruSuzuki
20 ‘‘ThusAreOurBodies,ThusWasOurCustom’’:MortuaryCannibalism
inanAmazonianSociety 238
BethA.Conklin
vi
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Contents
PartVI RemembranceandRegeneration 263
21 SacrificialDeathandtheNecrophagousAscetic 265
JonathanParry
22 TheNineteenth-CenturyTlingitPotlatch:ANewPerspective 285
SergeiKan
23 DeadBodiesAnimatetheStudyofPolitics 303
KatherineVerdery
Index 311
vii
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Acknowledgments
IoweaconsiderabledebttoParkerShiptonwho,generousasalways,invitedmeto
editavolumeforBlackwellandintroducedmetoJaneHuber,thatwhirlwindofan
editor, who sharpened my ideas about this project, provided sound advice, and
always answered my e-mails with wit and wisdom. This book would not have been
possible without her unfailing support. I also want to express my gratitude to the
three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. I am certain that they
recognize their hand in the texts selected here. I want to thank Ellen Badone,
Jan van den Bout, Beth Conklin, Johannes Fabian, Sergei Kan, Sonja Leferink,
Yvon van der Pijl, Sergio Visacovsky, and Jan de Wolf for their bibliographic
suggestions and comments on the introduction. Their collegiality made the task
much lighter and more enjoyable. Nathan Brown at Blackwell’s offices in Malden,
Massachusetts,andAngelaCoheninOxford,England,guidedmeexpertlythrough
the publishing process. Lastly, I thank my wife Ellen for her patience in listening
to innumerable accounts of burial practices, and for her overall support and
encouragement.
The editor and publishers gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to repro-
duce thecopyright materialin thisbook:
1 ‘‘Magic, Science and Religion,’’ by Bronislaw Malinowski from Magic, Science and
ReligioneditedbyJamesNeedham,publishedbyMacmillanin1925.
2 Extract from The Denial of Death, by Ernest Becker, published by The Free Press in
1973.ReprintedwiththepermissionofTheFreePress,aDivisionofSimonandSchuster
Adult Publishing Group. Copyright (cid:1) 1973 by The Free Press. Copyright renewed (cid:1)
1981byMarieH.Becker.Allrightsreserved.
viii
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Acknowledgments
3 ExtractfromLivingandDying,byRobertJayLiftonandEricOlson,publishedinThe
United States of America by Praeger Publishing Inc. Copyright (cid:1) 1974 by Robert Jay
LiftonandEricOlson.
4 Extract from TheHour of OurDeath, by PhilippeArie`s. Copyright (cid:1) 1981by Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc., originally published in France as L’Homme Devant la Mort. Copyright
(cid:1)1977byLesEditionsduSeuil.ReprintedbypermissionofGeorgesBorchardt,Inc.for
LesEditionsduSeuil,andAlfredA.Knopf,aDivisionofRandomHouse,Inc.
5 ‘‘How Others Die: Reflections on the Anthropologyof Death,’’ byJohannes Fabian,
fromDeathinAmericanExperienceeditedbyArienMack.FirstpublishedinSocialResearch
Journal,39:3(1972)pp.543–70.ReprintedwithpermissionofSocialResearch.
6 ‘‘DeathOmensinaBretonMemorate’’,byEllenBadone,Folklore,Volume98d,1987.
Copyright(cid:1)EllenBadone.Reprintedwiththekindpermissionoftheauthor.
7 ‘‘The Meaning of Death in Northern Cheyenne Culture,’’ by Anne S. Straus, Plains
Anthropologist, Journal of the Plains Conference, Volume 23, February 1978, No. 79.
Reprintedwiththekindpermissionoftheauthor.
8 ExtractsfromThisWorld,OtherWorlds:Sickness,Suicide,DeathandtheAfterlifeAmongthe
Vaqueiros de Alzada of Spain, by M. Ca´tedra (1992), W. A. Christian, Jr., translator.
ReprintedwithpermissionoftheUniversityofChicagoPress.
9 ‘‘DisplacingSuffering:TheReconstructionofDeathinNorthAmericaandJapan,’’by
MargaretLock,fromSocialSufferingeditedbyArthurKleinman,VeenaDas,andMargaret
Lock,publishedbyTheUniversityofCaliforniaPress,1997.Copyright(cid:1)1997byThe
RegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia.ReprintedwithpermissionoftheauthorandThe
UniversityofCaliforniaPress.
10 ExtractfromWitchcraft,OraclesandMagicAmongtheAzande,byE.E.Evans-Pritchard,
published by Oxford University Press, 1937. Reprinted with permission of Oxford
UniversityPress.
11 ExtractfromDivinityandExperience:TheReligionoftheDinka,byGodfreyLienhardt,
published by Oxford University Press, 1961. Reprinted with permission of Oxford
UniversityPress.
12 ‘‘State Terror in the Netherworld: Disappearance and Reburial in Argentina,’’ by
AntoniusC.G.M.Robben,fromDeathSquad:TheAnthropologyofStateTerroreditedby
JeffreyA.Sluka,publishedbyUniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2000.Copyright(cid:1)2000
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress.Reprintedwithpermissionofthepublishers.
13 Extract from The Andaman Islanders, by A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, published by
CambridgeUniversityPress.Reprintedwithpermissionofthepublishers.
14 ExtractfromTheDeathRitualsofRuralGreece,byLoringM.Danforth.Copyright(cid:1)
1982 Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University
Press.
15 Extracts from Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis, by Renato Rosaldo.
Copyright(cid:1)1989,1993RenatoRosaldo.ReprintedwithpermissionofTaylor&Francis
UK,andBeaconPress,Boston,USA.
ix
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Acknowledgments
16 Extract from Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil, byNancy
Scheper-Hughes,publishedbytheUniversityofCaliforniaPress.Copyright(cid:1)1992by
The Regents of the University of California Press. Reprinted with permission of the
authorandthepublishers.
17 Extracts fromDeath andtheRight Hand,byRobertHertz, (1881–1915),translated
by Rodney and Claudia Needham, published by Cohen & West in 1960. (cid:1) English
translationbyRodneyandClaudiaNeedham1960.ReprintedbypermissionofTaylor&
FrancisUK.
18 Extract from The Rites of Passage, by Arnold van Gennep, translated by Monika
B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee, published by University of Chicago Press 1960.
Copyright (cid:1) 1960 by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Reprinted by per-
missionoftheUniversityofChicagoPress.
19 ExtractfromThePriceofDeath:TheFuneralIndustryinContemporaryJapan,byHikaru
Suzuki. Copyright (cid:1) 2002 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr.,
University.Reprintedwithpermissionoftheauthorandthepublishers.
20 ‘‘ThusAreOurBodies,ThusWasOurCustom,’’byBethA.Conklin,fromAmerican
Ethnologist,Volume22,No.1,IssueFebruary1995,pp.75–101.Copyright(cid:1)1995by
the American Anthropological Society. Reprinted by permission of the author and
AmericanAnthropologicalSociety.
21 ‘‘SacrificialDeathandtheNecrophagousAscetic,’’byJonathanParry,fromDeathand
the Regeneration of Life, by Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry, published by Cambridge
UniversityPress,1982.Copyright(cid:1)1982byCambridgeUniversityPress.Reprintedby
permissionoftheauthorandCambridgeUniversityPress.
22 ‘‘The 19th-Century Tlingit Potlatch: A New Perspective,’’ by Sergei Kan, from
American Ethnologist, Volume 13, No. 2, Issue May 1996, pp. 191–212. Copyright (cid:1)
1996by the AmericanAnthropological Society. Reprinted by permission of the author
andAmericanAnthropologicalSociety.
23 Extracts from The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Postsocialist Change, by
Katherine Verdery, published by Columbia University Press. Copyright (cid:1) 1999 by
ColumbiaUniversityPress.Reprintedwithpermissionoftheauthorandthepublishers.
Everyefforthasbeenmadetotracecopyrightholdersandtoobtaintheirpermissionfor
theuseofcopyrightmaterial.Thepublisherapologizesforanyerrorsoromissionsinthe
abovelistandwouldbegratefulifnotifiedofanycorrectionsthatshouldbeincorporated
infuturereprintsoreditionsofthisbook.
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