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Burial and Belonging
Author(s) -
Balkan Osman
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/sena.12119
Subject(s) - ambivalence , politics , islam , ethnography , sociology , dead body , feeling , immigration , gender studies , political science , law , history , social psychology , anthropology , archaeology , psychology , autopsy
This article explores the role that funerary practices and burial decisions play in the construction of national and political identities amongst M uslim immigrants in G ermany. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with Islamic undertakers, migrant families, and religious leaders in B erlin it argues that the act of burial serves as a powerful means to assert belonging in migratory settings. While local burial laws impact the feasibility of I slamic funerary rites, this article suggests that family ties, ideas about the soil, and feelings of social exclusion play a larger role in shaping burial outcomes than the laws of the dead. By conferring a sense of fixity or permanence to identities that are more fluid or ambivalent in life, determining where a dead body belongs helps demarcate social and communal boundaries.