From one body to another

The handling of the deceased during the Covid-19 pandemic, a case study in France and Switzerland

Bibliographic Data

ID4820261
AuthorsGaëlle Clavandier (0000-0002-1936-1995, Centre Max Weber, corresponding author), Marc-Antoine Berthod (0000-0002-3112-1556, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland), Philippe Charrier (0000-0003-0285-5216, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Étienne), Martin Julier-Costes (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Étienne), Veronica Pagnamenta (HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland)
Year2021
Volume7
Issue2
Pages41-63
Publication date2021-11-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Remains and Violence An Interdisciplinary Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2054-2240 • E-ISSN: 2054-2240
PublisherManchester University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.7227/hrv.7.2.4
OpenAlexW3217466559
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited12

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an unprecedented global crisis. To limit the spread of the virus and the associated excess mortality, states and governing bodies have produced a series of regulations and recommendations from a health perspective. The funerary aspects of these directives have reconfigured not only the ways in which the process of dying can be accompanied, but also the management of dead bodies, impacting on the dying, their relatives and professionals in the sector. Since March 2020, the entire process of separation and farewell has been affected, giving rise to public debates about funeral restrictions and the implications for mourning. We carried out a study in France and Switzerland to measure the effects of this crisis, and in particular to explore whether it has involved a shift from a funerary approach to a strictly mortuary one. Have the practices that would normally be observed in non-pandemic times been irrevocably altered? Does this extend to all deaths? Has there been a switch to an exclusively technical handling? Are burial practices still respected? The results of the present study pertain to the 'first wave' of spring 2020 and focus on the practices of professionals working in the funeral sector

Archaeology · Art · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Dead body · Pandemic · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Public relations · Public sector · Sociology · Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Health, Medicine and Society · History · Law · Medicine

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