The Political Ecology of Death: Chinese Religion and The Affective Tensions of Secularised Burial Rituals in Singapore

This paper explores the political ecology of death and the affective tensions of secularised burial rituals in Singapore. Although scholars have recently acknowledged the roles of biopower and affect in shaping environmental politics, religion and death as socio-affective forces have not been substantively engaged with by political ecologists. We argue that death is inherently both a spiritual and ecological phenomenon, as it exposes not only the spiritual geographies that structure how people see the natural world, but also the affective tensions and struggles over what counts as a “proper” form of burial in relation to religion and nature. First, we demonstrate how the Singapore state utilises a politico-ecological discourse to secularise Chinese death rituals, such that the death can be separated from the transcendent spheres and incorporated into the environmental biopolitics. Second, we focus on how people's variegated affective inhabitations of religion and secularity condition the political ecology of death. In doing so, this paper foregrounds the roles of religion, secularity and affect in rethinking the “political” of political ecology.

Modernity and Burial Rituals in Igbo Land: A Paranormal Communication Approach

The Igbo people believe that a well done burial ritual would determine the well-being of the deceased in the land of the “living-dead”. It is therefore expected that their loved ones perform proper burial rituals to ensure the peaceful rest of the deceased and to avert the wrath of the dead. This study examined modernity and burial rituals in Igbo land from a paranormal communication perspective. The Functionalism approach as propounded by Smith, Burner and White in 1956 was used as the theoretical underpinning for this study. This study adopted textual analysis of historical and oral literature. The findings of this study revealed that modernity has affected the Igbo culture, and also showed that there are socio-religious consequences of not meeting up with the burial ritual demands. As a result, the researchers recommend amongst others that stakeholders in the community and the society at large come together to revive the Igbo culture. They also recommend that families do the needful to ensure that their 'dead' is properly buried to avoid certain misfortunes.

Нарушенные парные погребения кожумбердынской культурной группы эпохи поздней бронзы Южного Зауралья

This article aims at discussing the time and the character (pragmatic or ritual) of disturbances in paired burials of Kozhumberdy cultural group of Late Bronze Alakul´ Culture in the Southern Urals and Western Kazakhstan. Data. The object of the study are Kozhumberdy paired burials, which were deliberately disturbed, including 19 simultaneous and 3 non-simultaneous graves. Results. The simultaneous burials are divided into two groups according to the degree of skeletal impairment. In the first group the remains of both deceased are equally broken; there are 10 of such burials. The skeletal impairment of pelvic and/or femur bones prevail. In the second group the remains of one of the deceased are broken to a greater degree; there are 9 such burials. As a rule, the female bones suffered more: the skull manipulation (removal, breaking) is their characteristic feature. The fact of the presence of vessels in situ in most graves and the accuracy with which the penetration was accomplished may serve as the evidence of the disturbances made by the contemporaries of the buried. There seems to be no pragmatic purpose for such disturbances: the absence of prestigious grave-goods in most undisturbed paired burials may serve as the indirect indication of this fact. This is supported by direct evidence as well because those who disturbed the graves were apparently not interested in the valuable jewelry; it was left in the disturbed part of the grave. Notably, the disturbance of non-simultaneous burials is like that of simultaneous graves: the skeletons are broken down to the pelvic and/or femur bones (1) and the skulls are removed (2). Conclusions. The disturbance of Kozhumberdy paired burials was carried out during post-burial rituals performed by the contemporaries of the deceased.

Death and morality: perspectives on the moral function of death among the basoga of Uganda

Numerous studies on death in African societies with no doubt have been successfully conducted though their preoccupation has been with the religious and spirituality perspectives. There has been a great deal of theologizing about the spiritual connection between the life here and life after death. Most studies in the humanities have zeroed on burial rituals and rites as means of transition to the spiritual world. Others have concentrated on how different societies cope with the misfortune of death; through grieving, mourning, choosing an heir or heiress and the succession disputes that are always part and parcel of such a culturally acknowledged process. Death is largely constructed as a challenge and misfortune, and many a scholar in the humanities are concerned with how different societies define, perceive, handle and cope with this catastrophe. Most scholarly works have paid a deaf ear to the social value that comes with the demise of an individual. One such social value is the definition and shaping of moral order in society, in which death occurs. Busoga traditional society of Uganda is used as the case study. Busoga is both a geographical reality and cultural entity, found in the eastern part of Uganda. The authors argue that rather than militating life, death promotes and perpetuates moral values on one hand and discourages vices that destabilize society on the other.

Bereaved Families Views on the Death of Loved Ones Due to COVID 19: An Integrative Review

Families encounter some issues after the death of their loved one due to COVID-19. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the family’s views on the death of their loved one due to COVID-19. This integrative review was conducted from May to Jan 2021. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, CINHAL, Magiran, and SID databases. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The results were classified into two categories, including before and after death. The issues raised before the death of the loved ones include no visit and absence at death time, fear of being infected with the COVID-19, death anxiety, failure to perform religious rites at death, and psychological problems. The after-death issues were related to funeral, burial, rituals, prolonged grieving, maladaptation, loneliness, and repeated mourning. Therefore, health policymakers should provide support before and after the death of loved ones for families.

The Cultural Construction of Childhood in Scandinavia, 3500 BC—1350AD

A set of Swedish and N orwegian burial-grounds and churchyards from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages (3500 BC—1350 AD) is analysed as concerns children's graves. Patterns of burial rituals corresponding to various concepts of childhood are constructed. Childhood is looked upon as a cultural construction independent of time and space. The basic growth process from infancy to adulthood is fundamental to the concept of childhood in all societies, but its transformation into burial ritual, material culture, symbols, and ideology is varied.

RITUAIS DE SEPULTAMENTO DOS SÍTIOS LAJEDO DO CRUZEIRO E PEDRA DA TESOURA, PARAÍBA: Um Estudo Comparativo Entre Sítios com Deposições Funerárias

Este artigo apresenta preliminarmente uma caracterização dos Lajedo do Cruzeiro e Pedra da Tesoura, procuramos contextualizar os resultados, ainda que iniciais, através de informações etnohistóricas e pesquisas arqueológicas realizadas na Paraíba. Analisamos as informações existentes sobre as populações que habitavam o interior no período Pré- histórico na área conhecida hoje como estado da Paraíba, especialmente os dados concernentes a contexto funerário. Os resultados dispostos nos estudos arqueológicos realizados nos sítios Barra (Camalaú), Serrote da Macambira (São João do Cariri), Pinturas I (São João do Tigre) e Furna dos Ossos (São João do Cariri), foram utilizados, porém, percebe-se que uma das principais dificuldades é estudar um sítio com sepultamento que apresente contexto de deposição preservado, impossibilitando, em grande parte dos casos, inferências seguras acerca das práticas funerárias. BURIAL RITUALS OF THE LAJEDO DO CRUZEIRO AND CRUZEIRO DA PEDRA SITES, PARAÍBA: A Comparative Study Between Sites with Funerary DepositionsABSTRACTThis paper presents a preliminary characterization of the Lajedo do Cruzeiro and Pedra da Tesoura, we seek to contextualize the results, even if initial, through the ethnohistorical information and archaeological research carried out in Paraíba. We analyzed the existing information about the populations that inhabited the interior in the Pre-historic period in the area known today as the state of Paraíba, especially the data concerning the funeralcontext. The results obtained in the archaeological studies carried out at the Barra (Camalaú), Serrote da Macambira (São João do Cariri), Pinturas I (São João do Tigre) and Furna dos Ossos (São João do Cariri) sites were used, one of the main difficulties is to study a buried site that has a preserved deposition context, making it impossible to obtain reliable inferences about funeral practices in most cases.Keywords: Death; funeral rituals; Tapuias; Paraíba

The Sealed Grave and Burial Rituals in the Context of Revenants in Ukrainian Belief

The article* sets the goal of describing the Ukrainian ritual of the sealed grave and its relation to revenants, or the unquiet dead, based both on the author’s fieldwork and ethnographic collections of the turn of the 20th century. The meaning of the ritual and its variants are delineated through folk beliefs and institutionalised Orthodoxy and are defined as one of the main reasons for becoming revenants. Depending on a proper or failed funeral, the dead have different possibilities and time boundaries to visit the living. Together with biological reasons, the ritual of sealing a grave allows a seven-year period of return prior to the grave being finally sealed.

Enclosures of Death in the Early Iron Age

This article focuses on the study of the Early Iron Age necropolis of Esfola, taking into account the burial rituals of the site (the architecture, the funerary objects and the human skeletal analyses are dealt with in the context of ‘burial ritual’ studies). This research will contribute to the body of knowledge on Early Iron Age necropolises with enclosures, typical of the Beja and Ourique regions in southern Portugal, i.e. Vinha das Caliças 4, Monte do Bolor 1–2, Cinco Réis 8, Carlota and Palhais. All these sites identified in the southern Iberian Peninsula allow us to characterize the funerary rituals practised in this region during the Early Iron Age.