What Now? Cremation without Tradition

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13629807
AutoresPamela Roberts (0000-0003-0946-1252, California State University, Long Beach, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen62
Número1
Páginas1-30
Fecha de publicación2010-10-21
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2190/om.62.1.a
PMID21138068
OpenAlexW2068974424
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas12

Although cremation is an increasingly popular method of body disposal, there is little research on ash disposition, particularly the decisions and negotiations underlying the process. Americans who have recently encountered the cremation of loved ones for the first time have not been studied at all; the present research describes 87 of their cremation experiences. Adults who were actively involved in cremation and ash disposition decisions were interviewed about these processes at every stage, from the decision to cremate through the performance of final rituals for their dead. Results detail family and friends' active negotiations over cremation and ash disposition, the surprises they encountered, and the personally meaningful rituals they created for their loved ones. As in other emerging postdeath rituals, the enactment of individualized rituals for the dead was seen as a positive experience; accordingly, most participants preferred to be cremated and honored through nontraditional rituals themselves

Archaeology · Dead body · Disposition · Negotiation · Social science · Sociology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Psychology · Social Psychology