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Religion, Death and the Senses

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This collection brings together academics and practitioners to explore six physical and three socio-cultural senses in relation to death and dying: the senses of sight, of smell, of sound, of taste, of touch, of movement, of decency, of humour and of loss. Each sense section comprises two chapters to provide differing examples of how death and dying can be viewed through the lens of human physical and cultural senses. Chapters include historical and contemporary examples of ways in which death, dying and grieving are inextricable from their physical sensual expressions and socio-cultural mores. Most books about death explore how death can be theorised, theologised and philosophised, or attend to the particular needs of health professionals working in palliative or pastoral care, with little attention to how people engage with and attend to death, dying and grief sensually. The uniqueness of this collection lies in two areas. Firstly, its deep engagement with a range of physical and socio-cultural sensual responses to death and dying. Secondly, through its contributors who are drawn from a spectrum of professional, practical and theoretical expertise and scholarship in fields that continue to redefine our understanding of mortality.

Published: Sep 25, 2024

Book Contributors

Series

Section Chapter Authors
Prelims
List of Figures Christina Welch, Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Acknowledgements Christina Welch, Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Series Foreword Graham Harvey
Introduction
Introduction: Death and the Senses Christina Welch, Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Movement
1. Kinetic Death: O Bon - Hawai’i’s Japanese Dance for the Dead Candi Cann
2. Egungun - Moving the Masks of our Ancestors Olu Taiwo
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Sight
3. Death in Sight: Confronting Mortality in Contemporary Art Celia Kenny
4. Images of Death and their Metamorphosis: From The Grim Reaper to Santa Muerte Kate Kingsbury
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Smell
5. Smelling Death: An Olfactory Account of Popular English Funeral Customs, c.1850-1920 Helen Frisby
6. The Sense of Smell and the Odour of Death Wendy Birch
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Sound
7. 'Sounding out Death’: Academic and Professional Viewpoints Suzi Garrod, Christina Welch
8. Sounding her Death Ballads: Funeral Songs as my Mother’s Final Words Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Taste
9. Food for the Dead, Food for the Living Beverley Rogers
10. Tasting the Dead Christina Welch
Part I: Physical Senses - Death and the Sense of Touch
11. Crafting as a Continuing Bond: Linking Handicrafts and Lost Loved Ones Enya Healey
12. The Sense of Touch in Relation to Working with Archaeological Human Skeletal Remains Heidi Dawson-Hobbis
Part II: Cultural Senses - Death and the Sense of Decency
13. Displaying the Dead with Decency: Practices at Funeral Homes and at Body Worlds Lucy Jacklin, Christina Welch
14. Body Disposal, Decency and Dark Tourism: A Case Study Approach Alasdair Richardson, Christina Welch
Part II: Cultural Senses - Death and the Sense of Humour
15. Satire in the Time of a Pandemic: An Interview with Cold War Steve Laura Hubner
16. 'It’s not Funny, is it?': Humour as a Coping Strategy Against Death by Funeral Workers in the UK Angie McLachlan
Part II: Cultural Senses - Death and the Sense of Loss
17. When Glaciers Die: Mourning and Memorialisation in Ecological Devastation Jonatan Spejlborg Juelsbo
18. Grave Goods as Continuing Bonds Kym Swan
Afterword
Afterword Graham Harvey
End Matter
Index Christina Welch, Jasmine Hazel Shadrack