Prendergast, David and Hockey, Jenny and Kellaher, Leonie (2006) Blowing in the wind? Identity, materiality, and the destinations of human ashes. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 12 (4). ISSN 1359-0987

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Abstract

This article asks whether the recent UK‐based practice of removing ashes from crematoria has led to entirely new, innovative rituals of disposal, or whether contemporary practice is an appropriation of late nineteenth‐century Romantic values and beliefs. Drawing on findings from a major empirical study among both professionals and lay people involved in the removal of ashes, it explores the potentiality of ash remains as a mobile material residue of the corpse, and considers whether they enable disposal strategies which no longer reflect concerns with space and place – particularly those associated with traditional burial grounds.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Grief; Romantic art; Cemeteries; Funerary rituals; Religious rituals; Mourning rituals; Death; Anthropology; Mothers; Cremation; Case studies; Death & dying; Social activism;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Anthropology
Item ID:	11548
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00368.x
Depositing User:	David Prendergast
Date Deposited:	01 Nov 2019 14:26
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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