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Fault lines in the graveyard: The contested nature of green burial
Author(s) -
Stewart Benjamin M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/dial.12438
Subject(s) - cognitive dissonance , spiritualities , memorialization , naturalness , natural (archaeology) , aesthetics , honesty , environmental ethics , sociology , history , archaeology , art , philosophy , political science , law , social psychology , psychology , spirituality , medicine , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics
The natural burial movement is popularly portrayed as the reemergence of simpler death practices and spiritualities. Without denying its ecological simplicity and ritual honesty, this article identifies some complex and emotionally charged tensions that arise in the current practice of natural burial, largely resulting from dissonance with dominant cultural norms. The areas of dissonance explored in this article relate to memorialization in the wild, the naturalness of death itself, and assertions of ecological anthropology.