Anthropology of Death

Extending current boundaries between the private, domestic and public display of mourning, love and visual culture in Mexico City

by Marcel Reyes-Cortez

2012: Social History, (May, Routledge), pp. 117-141.

Brain death, philosophical anthropology, and the body-mind problem

by Raji C. Steineck

Published in: S. Shôji, A. Tamaoka. (ed.): Proceedings of [sic] International Congress on Ethical Issues in Brain Death and Organ Transplantation, Tsukuba, Nov. 1-2, 2003. Tsukuba 2004, pp. 24-36.

In the 'classical' literature in favour of the normative concept of brain death (i.e. brain death as an ethically and... more In the 'classical' literature in favour of the normative concept of brain death (i.e. brain death as an ethically and legally valid criterion for the death of human beings), references to modern philosophical anthropology and body-mind-theory are conspicuously absent. Given the fact, evidenced by this very literature itself, that the normative concept of brain death touches directly on our understanding of what it means to be human, this absence of philosophical theory is peculiar at least. In my presentation, I give an evaluation of the concept of brain death in the light of 20th century discussions on philosophical anthropology and body-mind theory, with a focus on 'rationalist' Continental philosophers like E. Cassirer and H. Plessner. The normative concept of brain death comes in two forms. One assumes that the death of the brain signifies the end of organic life. This notion will be discussed in terms of Plessner's theory of the organism as a positional entity. It will be argued that singling out dysfunction or destruction of the brain is not a correct way of asserting death. A second version of the brain death concept takes brain death to signify the end of personal, and hence, social life. Its analysis requires a theory of the body that differentiates and integrates its biological, personal, and social dimension. Such a theory will be briefly sketched out with reference to Cassirer's Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. The notion of brain death as 'death of the person' will be analysed accordingly. It will be shown that, and why, the life of a person is coextensive with the perceptible life of the body.

Changing Patterns of Violence at Qustul and Ballana. Part Two: The Animals

by Rachael Dann

Published in: Der Antike Sudan: Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin. Vol 19. 111-120.

Memory of places and places of memory: for a Halbwachsian socio-ethnography of collective memory

by Gérôme Truc

Published in "International Social Science Journal", n° 203–204, 2011, p. 147-159.

Les études mémorielles connaissent depuis plusieurs années un essor certain. Mais, à la suite du travail de... more Les études mémorielles connaissent depuis plusieurs années un essor certain. Mais, à la suite du travail de l’historien Pierre Nora, l’analyse initiée par Halbwachs des processus de localisation des souvenirs a trop souvent été réduite à une simple étude des « lieux de mémoire ». Le but de cet article est alors de restituer la portée sociologique de la dynamique des rapports entre mémoires et lieux, en soulignant à cet égard la portée paradigmatique, tant du point de vue méthodologique que théorique, de La topographie légendaire des évangiles en Terre sainte. À partir d’exemples tirés de ses propres recherches sur les lieux d’attentats et d’une revue de la littérature sur les phénomènes de « mémorialisation spontanée », l’auteur montre que l’enquête sociologique doit se pencher tour à tour sur « ce que les lieux font à la mémoire » et sur « ce que la mémoire fait aux lieux ». Un tel travail implique de porter une attention particulière aux déplacements, tensions et conflits existant entre la « mémoire des lieux » d’un événement passé et les « lieux de mémoire » où cet événement est commémoré, et justifie pour cela le recours à une méthodologie essentiellement ethnographique.

Communicating with the Dead: Social Visibility in the Cemeteries of Mexico City

by Marcel Reyes-Cortez

2010: Die Realität des Todes: Zum gegenwärtigen Wandel von Totenbildern und Erinnerungskulturen (Visibility of Death), Dominik Groß, Christoph Schweikardt (Edts), pp.33-62, Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.

Magic and material culture in the cemeteries of a megalopolis

by Marcel Reyes-Cortez

2012: Visible Religions, in Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal, (March, Routledge), pp. 107-131.

Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval Culture

by Nancy Caciola

Folklore in Theory and Practice: The Implications of Gramsci's Theory of Spontaneous Philosophy

by Kyle J. Anderson

submitted for the graduate program in the Department of History at Cornell University

This essay argues against traditional readings of Gramsci, which interpret his attitude towards folklore as entirely... more This essay argues against traditional readings of Gramsci, which interpret his attitude towards folklore as entirely dismissive, by situating his comments on folklore in the broader context of his theoretical and practical project. Examples from Modern Egyptian history will be employed as case studies to test a general theory of the relevance of engagement with folklore for scholars and activists.

redistributions du travail funéraire et transformations de la chaîne opératoire du cadavre dans le Bénin méridional

by Joël Noret

forthcoming in Hervé Guy (ed.), Rencontre autour du cadavre, 2012.

Cet article entend montrer combien les transformations de la chaîne opératoire du cadavre dans le Bénin méridional... more Cet article entend montrer combien les transformations de la chaîne opératoire du cadavre dans le Bénin méridional s’avèrent révélatrices d’évolutions plus générales dans l’ordre de la prise en charge de la mort et, finalement, puisque les deux sont toujours peu ou prou liés, dans l’organisation des rapports sociaux. À cet égard, envisager le changement social, en prenant pour point de départ les transformations de la chaîne opératoire du cadavre, peut d’ailleurs s’avérer une entrée épistémologique féconde, car, si le corps est bien ce « premier lieu du social », pour reprendre l’heureuse formule de Gil Bartholeyns , le cadavre peut légitimement être considéré comme un double particulièrement éloquent de celui-ci, relevant, comme lui, à la fois pleinement du biologique et du social, et de leurs nouages complexes.
Plus spécifiquement, dans la sociologie historique du cadavre que je propose dans les pages qui suivent, je partirai de deux ressorts de la transformation de l’apprêt des corps, qui me sont apparus comme majeurs, au cours de mes enquêtes sur les funérailles dans le Bénin méridional. Ainsi, j’évoquerai, dans un premier temps, les effets du changement religieux sur le traitement des cadavres, dont une proportion croissante échappe désormais aux mains des spécialistes « traditionnels » de la gestion des corps. Dans un deuxième temps, je montrerai la place occupée dorénavant par les morgues dans la prise en charge de la mort et les déplacements significatifs que cette innovation technologique a contribué à diffuser dans la chaîne opératoire du cadavre.

IALYSOS. FOREIGN RELATIONS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE.

by Luca Girella

EMPORIA. Aegeans in Central and Eastern Mediterranean. 10th International Aegean Conference, R. Laffineur and E. Greco eds., 14-18 April 2004, Aegaeum 25, Athens 2005

The recent discoveries of the settlement at Trianda and the large cemeteries of Makria and Moschou Vounara show that... more The recent discoveries of the settlement at Trianda and the large cemeteries of Makria and Moschou Vounara show that Ialysos was an important centre networking with the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. The aim of my paper is to draw attention on the funerary evidence and to suggest how the latter might be used to clarify the role of Ialysos in the second half of the second millennium BC. In fact, the burial customs provide us with long-timed information about some of the social transformations at Ialysos between LH I and LH III C. According to the data, I propose to outline different scenarios which may be summed up in three main phases. Phase 1: the period of the Minoan settlement (LH I-II A), in which a number of Anatolian features contrasting with the Minoan character of the material culture (architecture, pottery, wall paintings) might be found in the funerary practices. Phase 2: the period of the Mycenaean presence on Rhodes (LH IIB/IIIA1-IIIB), in which the role of Ialysos in the international trading network is pointed out by the large amount of fine pottery imported from the Argolid as well as by a number of imports from the East (including Cyprus) and Anatolia. Phase 3: the period following the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces (LH III C), in which the Mainland plays a minor role, whilst a number of objects attests to the renewal of contacts between Ialysos and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Burial of the Dead: the British Army on the Western Front, 1914–18

by Ross Wilson

War & Society, Vol. 31 No. 1, March, 2012, 22–41

This article examines the ‘war culture’ that developed within the British Army with regard to death and burial on the... more This article examines the ‘war culture’ that developed within the British Army with regard to death and burial on the Western Front. Soldiers on the battlefields responded to the presence of death and the bodies of the dead through a specific framework that was used to understand this perverse and violent landscape. This drew upon pre-war practices and emphasized the physicality of the corpse in the desire to ensure a ‘decent’ burial for a ‘pal’.

Projecto de Estudo histórico e arqueológico da Sé do Porto

by Paulo Dordio Gomes

published in 'Património Estudos', IPPAR, Lisboa, nº 8, 2005

Las Cupae complutenses

by Joaquín L. Gómez-Pantoja

Co-authored with M. J. Rubio for J. Andreu Pintado (ed.), Las cupae hispanas: Origen, difusión, uso, tipología, Uncastillo, 2012, pp. 173-194

A complete description with pictures of the cupae (Roman tomb markers, often inscribed with the defunct's name) found... more A complete description with pictures of the cupae (Roman tomb markers, often inscribed with the defunct's name) found in Complutum, modern Alcalá de Henares, Spain

Las cupae de Cáceres

by Joaquín L. Gómez-Pantoja

Written with A. Gónzález Cordero, R. Hernando Sobrino and J.V. Madruga for J. Andreu (ed.), Las cupae hispanas: Origen, difusión, uso y tipología, Uncastillo, 2012, pp. 415-434 [ISBN 978-84-615-6200-8]

A complete catalogue of the cupae (Roman burial markers) found in the actual province of Caceres, Spain, which in... more A complete catalogue of the cupae (Roman burial markers) found in the actual province of Caceres, Spain, which in Roman times was part of Lusitania.

Secondary Mortuary Practices During the Late Eneolithic in Moravia, Czech Republic: State of Knowledge, History Of Research, Terminology and Interpretations

by Jan Kolář

published in proceedings from international conference "Theory and Method in the Archaeology of the Neolithic in Central Europe" held in 2010 in Mikulov, Czech Republic

Décapitations: du culte des crânes au cinéma gore

by antonio dominguez leiva

Les motifs de la décapitation dans l'art et la littérature d'Occident

by antonio dominguez leiva

La comédie de Charleroi: modernismo macabro y fascismo

by antonio dominguez leiva

Zu Tisch im Jenseits. Totenmahl und Ahnenkult in der Levante (1600 –700 v. u. Z.)

by Alessandra Gilibert

published in M. Friedlander – C. Kugelmann (eds.), Koscher & Co. Über Essen und Religion, Berlin 2009, 288-29

This paper discusses the Ancient Near Eastern "system" of food and drink offerings to the dead as known from... more This paper discusses the Ancient Near Eastern "system" of food and drink offerings to the dead as known from Late Bronze and Iron Age sources.
The conceptual background of these mortuary and commemorative rites, their ties to a specific belief about life after death and the rules imposed by the latter to ancestor cults are described. Then, three different forms in which food and drink offerings to the dead took place are analysed: the presentation of food and drink offerings to an image of a dead ancestor, the partaking in cultic meals inside a funrary crypt, and the organization of "dining parties" in honor of a dead member of a male sodality.

INTRODUCTION TO SANTA MUERTE - a critical description through faith, politics, and marketing

by Laura Merlo

Translation of my Bachelor thesis, which I wrote at the end of my three years study period at Bologna University.

Who is Santa Muerte? Who are her devotees? Is she narco's goddess? A critical analisys which aims to describe, with a... more Who is Santa Muerte? Who are her devotees? Is she narco's goddess? A critical analisys which aims to describe, with a critical point of view, a recent phenomenon which is hardly understandable and is highly differentiated, more than one might be prone to think.