1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910457667603321

Titolo

Funerals in Africa [[electronic resource] ] : explorations of a social phenomenon / / edited by Michael Jindra and Joël Noret

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Berghahn Books, 2011

ISBN

1-78238-129-5

1-283-32650-7

9786613326508

0-85745-205-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (244 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

JindraMichael

NoretJoël

Disciplina

393/.9

Soggetti

Funeral rites and ceremonies - Africa

Death - Religious aspects

Electronic books.

Africa Social life and customs

Africa Religious life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Illustrations; Foreword; Funerals in Africa: An Introduction; Chapter 1 - African Funerals and Sociocultural Change: A Review of Momentous Transformations across a Continent; Chapter 2 - A Decent Death: Changes in Funerary Rites in Bulawayo; Chapter 3 - Transformations of Death among the Kikuyu of Kenya: From Hyenas to Tombs; Chapter 4 - Decomposing Pollution? Corpses, Burials, and Affliction among the Meru of Central Kenya; Chapter 5 - The Rise of ""Death Celebrations"" in the Cameroon Grassfields; Chapter 6 - Funerals and Religious Pluralism in Burkina Faso

Chapter 7 - Funerals and the Religious Imagination: Burying and Honoring the Dead in the Celestial Church of Christ in southern BeninChapter 8 - Of Corpses, Clay, and Photographs: Body Imagery and Changing Technologies of Remembrance in Asante Funeral Culture; Chapter 9 - Funerals and Fetish Interment in Accra, Ghana; Notes on Contributors; Index



Sommario/riassunto

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 volum