Why People Don't Die 'Naturally' any More

Changing Relations Between 'The Individual' and 'The State' in Post-Socialist Bulgaria

Bibliographic Data

ID2252107
AuthorsDeema Kaneff (0000-0002-1329-4197, Max Planck Society, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume8
Issue1
Pages89-105
Publication date2002-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-0987 • E-ISSN: 1467-9655
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9655.00100
OpenAlexW2072118871
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited7

This article explores the theme of death as a means of illuminating the changing relationship between 'the individual' and 'the state' in the context of post-socialist Bulgaria. Previous research carried out on rituals and socialist society indicates a close connection between state ideology and the socially constructed 'natural' order - an order partly reproduced through engagement in state-sponsored life-cycle rituals, such as funerals. By focusing on the way in which funerals are presently carried out, and more specifically on the way in which villagers talk about death, I suggest that new discourse reveals important changes: a reordering of the relationship between 'the individual' and the socially constructed 'natural' order. The state is no longer such a strong mediating force in this relationship. Post-socialist reform, therefore, involves more than 'just' political and economic change; it represents a more general breakdown in the total set of relations that constituted the socialist world

Context (archaeology · Economic system · Economics · Ideology · Natural (archaeology · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Theme (computing · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

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