Overview

This collection is of great benefit to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, development studies, economics, history, religious studies. REBEKAH LEE, University of London

Funerals in Africa is an excellent volume. Based on outstanding original research the collection shows how social and economic changes in Africa are illuminated through the analysis of burials, mortuary rites, mourning, and remembrance. In this collection encounters with world religions emerge as the key theme. Death and burial are therefore employed to illuminate classic debates on conversion, reformism, and local-global religious tensions. Highly recommended for anthropologists and historians and a major contribution to African studies. DAVID PRATTEN, Director, African Studies Centre, Oxford University

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.

MICHAEL JINDRA is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and a visiting research scholar in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He has published in journals such as Africa, Sociology of Religion, Anthropological Forum, and Society and has also contributed chapters to a number of books.

JOL NORET is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Universit libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. His publications include the coedited special issue of Gradhiva, Mmoire de l'esclavage au Bnin (with Gaetano Ciarcia, 2008), his monograph, Deuil et funrailles dans le Bnin mridional. Enterrer tout prix (Brussels, 2010), and Mort et dynamiques sociales au Katanga (with Pierre Petit, Tervuren-Paris, 2011).

Full Product Details

9786613326508

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available