“Our Dead are the Ultimate Teachers of Life”. The Corpse as an Inter-mediator of Transcendence

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-240
Author(s):  
Antje Kahl
Keyword(s):  
Death And Dying ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Dead Body ◽  
Funeral Directors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Funeral Director ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Relationship

Today in Germany, religion and the churches forfeit their sovereignty of interpretation and ritual concerning death and dying. The funeral director is the first point of contact when death occurs. Therefore he or she is able to influence the relationship between the living and the dead. In the course of this development, the dead body, often referred to as dirty and dangerous, is being sanitized by funeral directors. Funeral directors credit the dead body with a certain quality; they claim that facing the dead may lead to religious or spiritual experiences, and therefore they encourage the public viewing of the dead – a practice which was, and still is not very common in Germany. The new connotation of the dead body is an example for the dislimitation of religion in modern society. The religious framing of death-related practises no longer exclusively belongs to traditional religious institutions and actors, but can take place in commercial business companies as well.

Archaeologists and the Dead

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
International Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Experience Effect

This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues), in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation), and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice--disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organizational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting and frank insights into contemporary issues that have hitherto often remained "unspoken" among the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguing strongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much wider international context that highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.

scholarly journals Dakwah Dan Populisme Media : Idealisme Keberagamaan Netizen di Era Global

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Lukis Alam
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Field Work ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Internet Media ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Work Method

Abstrak: Teknologi  informasi  dan  komunikasi  yang  berkembang  saat  ini, telah  menciptakan  perubahan  pada  banyak  hal.  Terlebih  dengan kehadiran  internet,  berbagai  keunggulannya  semakin  menambah keunggulan  dalam  dinamika  kehidupan  modern.  Ratusan juta manusia di seluruh dunia mengakses internet setiap harinya, dan jumlahnya terus bertambah dari waktu ke waktu. Hal ini berdampak pada penggunaan internet untuk kegiatan dakwah.Secara umum dakwah dilaksanakan secara konvensional. Namun, seiring perkembangan teknologi informasi, bermunculan dakwah yang menggunakan internet, yang biasa disebut dengan cyber dakwah. Terkait dengan hal tersebut, penelitian ini berupaya untuk melihat keterkaitan keduanya dalam konstruksi keberagamaan, yang karenanya media internet memberikan kemudahan dalam penyebaran informasi kepada masyarakat. Adapun jenis penelitian ini adalah kualitatif, dengan menggunakan metode field work yang dipadukan dengan studi kepustakaan.Diharapkan penelitian ini akan membuka ruang diskusi baru mengenai studi keislaman kontemporer yang lebih integratif dengan isu-isu kekinian. Selain itu, untuk memperkaya cakrawala terhadap diskursus perkembangan media yang menjadi bagian dari wacana keislaman global dan masyarakat modern. Abtsract: Information and communication technology that has developed at this time has created changes in many things. Especially with the presence of the internet, various advantages have added to the dynamics of modern life. Hundreds of millions of people around the world access the internet every day, and the number continues to increase from time to time. This has an impact on the use of the internet for da'wah activities.In general, preaching is carried out conventionally. However, along with the development of information technology, da'wah has sprung up using the internet, commonly referred to as cyber da'wah. Related to this, this study seeks to see the relationship between the two in religious construction, which is why internet media makes it easy to disseminate information to the public. The type of this study is qualitative, using the field work method combined with library studies.It is hoped that this research will open up new discussion space regarding contemporary Islamic studies that are more integrative with current issues. In addition, to enrich the horizon of the discourse of media development which is part of a global Islamic discourse and modern society.

scholarly journals With Respect to the Dead: Reconstructing a Historic View of Death in Gaelic Nova Scotia

Genealogy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Shamus Y. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Relationship

Drawing on a combination of oral history and archival research, this article reconstructs a historic view of death and dying in areas of the province settled by Scottish Gaels. It discusses beliefs and customs associated with death, giving special attention to traditional house wakes. Inspired by studies in culturally related communities in Ireland, Scotland, and Newfoundland, this study highlights insider perspectives of local customs and beliefs in order to develop a clearer understanding of the relationship previous generations had to death in Gaelic Nova Scotia. This study concludes by suggesting why some mortuary customs were abandoned during the second part of the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Politics and the Work of the Dead in Modern India

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Moffat
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
The Public ◽  
Revolutionary Violence ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThis article provides a framework for understanding the continuing political potential of the anticolonial dead in twenty-first-century India. It demonstrates how scholars might move beyond histories of reception to interrogate the force of inheritance in contemporary political life. Rather than the willful conjuring of the dead by the living, for a politics in the present, it considers the more provocative possibility that the dead might themselves conjure politics—calling the living to account, inciting them to action. To explicate the prospects for such an approach, the article traces the contested afterlives of martyred Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), comparing three divergent political projects in which this iconic anticolonial hero is greeted as interlocutor in a struggle caught “halfway.” It is this temporal experience of “unfinished business”—of a revolution left incomplete, a freedom not yet perfected—that conditions Bhagat Singh's appearance as a contemporary in the political disputes of the present, whether they are on the Hindu nationalist right, the Maoist student left, or amidst the smoldering remains of Khalistani separatism in twenty-first-century Punjab. Exploring these three variant instances in which living communities affirm Bhagat Singh's stake in the struggles of the present, the article provides insight into the long-term legacies of revolutionary violence in India and the relationship between politics and the public life of history in the postcolonial world more generally.

Magic, Secrets, and Grim Reality: Death Work and Boundary Management in the Role of the Funeral Director

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Bartlett ◽  
Gordon Riches
Keyword(s):  
Professional Role ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Funeral Directors ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Public ◽  
Funeral Director ◽  
Front Stage ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Back Stage

This article examines the performances that funeral directors undertake in protecting the public from the disorder of death and in creating the “magic” of a funeral. Goffman's (1959) concepts of back-stage/front-stage performances are used to illustrate the tension that arises as funeral workers switch between these two elements of their professional role. Based on fieldwork study in a number of funeral establishments, we present examples of the stress that they may experience in their management of the boundary between life and death.

scholarly journals Dealing with the Dead: Life as a Third-Generation Independent Funeral Director

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 700-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jordan ◽  
Jenna Ward ◽  
Robert McMurray
Keyword(s):  
Third Generation ◽  
Dirty Work ◽  
Funeral Directors ◽  
The Family ◽  
Funeral Director ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Funeral Directing ◽  
Narrative Account ◽  
Insight Into

This ‘On the Front Line’ article explores the necessary and yet undesirable work undertaken by a third-generation, independent funeral director. Peter’s narrative account of the realities of funeral directing and his journey into the family business offers a poignant insight into the dirty work of death work. Reflecting on his own exposure, experiences and practices Peter offers us an opportunity to see behind the scenes, to hear how he has learnt to cope with death work undertaken by his family. Consequently, we reflect on how performances of emotional neutrality afford funeral directors the capacity to offer comfort to the bereaved in the face of such extreme dirty work. Yet, as Peter shares, this neutrality masks the dirt and hides the pain of ‘dealing with the dead’.

Boundary Politics in the Public Sphere: Openness, Secrecy, and Leak

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes S. Ku
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Relationship

The issue of openness/secrecy has not received adequate attention in current discussion on the public sphere. Drawing on ideas in critical theory, political sociology, and cultural sociology this article explores the cultural and political dynamics involved in the public sphere in modern society vis-à-vis the practice of open/secret politics by the state. It argues that the media, due to their publicist quality, are situated at the interface between publicity and secrecy, which thereby allows for struggles over the boundary of state openness/secrecy in the public sphere. A theory of boundary politics is introduced that is contextualized in the relationship among state forms, the means of making power visible/invisible (media strategies), and symbolic as well as discursive practices in the public sphere. In explaining the dynamics of boundary politics over openness/secrecy, three ideal-types of boundary creation are conceptualized: open politics secrecy and leak. The theory is illustrated with a case study of the Patten controversy in Hong Kong.

scholarly journals The Development and Innovation of Physical Education in Colleges and Universities under the Concept of "Lifelong Physical Education"

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Ou Bai ◽  
Chenyang Xia
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Relationship

<p>In modern society, people's material living standards have risen substantially, and physical exercise has been paid more and more attention by the public. Therefore, the goal of physical education in colleges and universities should be set lifelong physical education thought as the core and reform towards lifelong physical education thought. This paper analyzed the importance of lifelong sports, the relationship between sports and lifelong sports in colleges and universities is parsed, discussion how the lifelong sports education in physical education in colleges and universities to carry out the problem, which will be lifetime sports thought and the integration of college physical education reform, put forward the corresponding strategy, in order to improve the universities sports teaching methods of teaching.</p>

scholarly journals Iconography of the corpse in the public sphere. Presence and absence of the dead body in times of pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 433-447
Author(s):  
Fran Benavente-Burian ◽  
Santiago Fillol ◽  
Glòria Salvadó-Corretger
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Dead Body ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Dead ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Visual Motif

In this article, we examine the visual motif of the corpse and its presence in the public sphere in times of pandemic from an iconographic, political and anthropological perspective. Through the analysis of the representation of the dead body in images presented by modern media, we reflect on how the formal and iconographic schemes of presentation of death were transformed following the irruption of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. The pandemic scheme, which is unusual from a political and anthropological perspective, assumes a particular approach to the problem of the representation of the dead body (anonymous body, carrier of a virus), encrypted in a dialectic between systematic omission and censorship and displacement of the representation of death towards the cumulative symmetry of empty pits or coffins that prefigure the corpse to come. Pandemic iconography, often based on science fiction imagery, outlines the dehumanized restlessness of a dystopian future. Under these exceptional conditions, some corpses, which are a priori anonymous, stand out, showing, even in the suspended space of Covid-19, the permanence of structural schemes of violence that must be denounced and fought in the present. With that in mind, we also examine the corpses claimed by Black Lives Matter and their distinctive representations, which are very different from those of the victims of the epidemic. Finally, through these references and based on the media treatment of Diego Armando Maradona’s body, we consider the significance of the return of the iconic corpse to the center of the public sphere, which imposes a regime of extreme visibility and goes beyond the representative limits of pandemic exceptionality.

scholarly journals Nurses' early and ongoing encounters with the dying and the dead: a scoping review of the international literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 310-324
Author(s):  
Kerry Jones ◽  
Jan Draper ◽  
Alison Davies
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
International Literature ◽  
Dead Body ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Care Relationships ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background: End-of-life care is high on policy and political agendas in the UK and internationally. Nurses are at the forefront of this, caring for dying patients, ‘managing’ the dead body, and dealing with the corporeal, emotional and relational dimensions of death. Little is known about nurses' prior or early professional experiences of and reactions to death, dying and the corpse and how these might influence practice. Aims: To appraise the international literature on nurses' early experiences of death, dying and the dead body, to better understand how these might influence subsequent practice, and how this might inform our teaching of death, dying and last offices. Methods: A scoping review was undertaken of peer-reviewed publications between, 2000 and 2019, which included nurses working in hospital, care homes and the community. Medline, PubMed, PsychINFO and CINAHL databases were searched and 23 papers meeting the inclusion criteria were read. Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) five-stage approach was adopted to scope the relevant international literature, using where relevant the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Selected papers were independently reviewed and subjected to thematic analysis, leading to the generation of five overarching themes. Results: The five themes were: different philosophies of care; relationships; knowledge; impact of death; and giving care. The studies came from diverse geographical locations across different settings and were primarily qualitative in design. Conclusions: Students and registered nurses are impacted both positively and negatively by their early encounters with death and dying. Good communication with patients, families and between professionals, understanding of what constitutes a ‘good’ death, and high-quality mentorship and support were of particular importance.

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