Memory, memorialization and social change Flashcards

1
Q

describe how death is everywhere

A
  • tension between death denial as a social norm and omnipresence of death, including public memorialization
  • street signs, names of buildings, memorial plaques, monuments
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2
Q

define continuing bonds and meaning-making

A

Continuing bonds: the ways the living maintain connections - a bond - with the deceased loved ones by making the deceased feel actively present in our lives

Meaning making: the process through which individuals and groups seek to make sense of loss and death, their relationship to the dead and their lives after a loss

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3
Q

describe official memorials

A
  • focus on elites or victim’s of conflict
  • a way of telling stories about the past, representing a shared history, bearing witness to past tragedy in order to affect future behaviour, reinforce common values
  • can be important for healing, reconciliation after conflict
  • can generate conflict
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4
Q

describe informal memorials

A
  • democratization of the act of remembering - memorials created for ‘ordinary people’ in public spaces
  • created by families or those directly affected
  • commemorate the dead
  • place to mourn, remember for families
  • raise awareness, inspire action
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5
Q

what is grief activism?

A
  • the use of public mourning and memorialization to contest, raise awareness about unjust deaths, pursue social change
  • deaths positioned as linked not isolated cases
  • public morning asserts personhood, humanity of the dead and resistance to oppressive social dynamics that dehumanize people and disenfranchise grief
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6
Q

what is disenfranchised grief

A
  • losses that are not publicly mourned, acknowledged or recognized
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7
Q

how are funerals used as resistance?

A
  • drawing linkages between historic and contemporary forms of racism and violence
  • recognition of the role of the funeral in long history of civil rights activism
  • celebration of life, highlights humanity, dignity that was denied in life
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8
Q

what is the death care industry?

A
  • multi billion dollar industry
  • funerals cost on average between 2000 - 5000 (for cremation) and 5000 - 20,000 for full funeral services and burial
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9
Q

What is cremation and embalming

A
  • cremation = use of fire to reduce the body and its container to ashes
  • embalming = semi-surgical process that replaces body fluids with liquid chemicals
  • different religious groups hold varying beliefs on the acceptability of cremation, burial and embalming
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10
Q

describe capitalism and the death care industry

A
  • myths about dead bodies and fears/taboos related to contamination, decomposition increases the demand for expensive services like embalming or products
  • embalming is not legally required
  • dead bodies do not contaminate the ground in cemeteries, except for the chemicals that we put into the bodies
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11
Q

what are green burials?

A
  • only biodegradable materials are used
  • no embalming or cremation
  • no markers are permitted
  • cost between 3000 - 5000
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12
Q

what are some types of death care practices?

A
  • burial with embalming
  • cremation
  • green burial
  • tree burial pods
  • aquamation
  • space burial
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