Funerals in Africa

Explorations of a Social Phenomenon

Michael Jindra, Joël Noret, Michael Jindra, Joël Noret

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781782381280
• eBook ISBN: 9780857452061
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

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 volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of 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 Benin
• Chapter 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