Decolonising Death Studies

Social and cultural factors can strongly influence how we approach death and dying, including attitudes towards death, rituals and practices surrounding death, and end-of-life care. Current knowledge in death studies tends to be influenced by Western views, which can limit its application to policy and practice. The increasing diversity and plurality of populations around the world requires further attention to be paid to diversifying evidence and knowledge to ensure that it effectively serves its beneficiaries. This book provides cutting-edge discourses and debates on death studies as a global and international field of research and practice. By hosting the space for interdisciplinary, international contributions, especially from under-represented groups, it advances our exploration of both knowledge outside of the colonised and the degree of the current knowledge's applicability in the field. Offering a truly innovative contribution to the field through its clear emphasis on decolonising methodologies and perspectives, it highlights decolonisation as a central framework, and pushes boundaries and challenges established norms, paving the way for new and transformative conversations within death studies. Through its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, the proposal breaks new ground by bringing together a diverse range of perspectives and voices, fostering rich dialogue and promoting inclusivity. This innovative approach promises to catalyse meaningful change and advance critical scholarship in death studies. It will be of interest to all undergraduate and postgraduate courses on death studies across both humanities and social sciences.

Panagiotis Pentaris, Associate Professor of Social Work and Thanatology, Thanatology Research Lab, Goldsmiths University of London. Stacey Pitsillides, Associate Professor in Design, Design Feminisms Research Group, Northumbria University. Hajar Ghorbani, PhD Candidate of Anthropology, IW Killam Memorial Scholar and SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar, University of Alberta.

0.Introduction. Part I - Death, Ritual and Cultural Identity. 1.The Soundworld and Death: Reconfiguring the Lifeworld through Funeral Rituals in Iran. 2.An exploration of Greek cultural, social and religious factors affecting the grieving process in the child and adolescent after parental loss. 3.Maori Cremation and Colonisation: Conceptions of Identity of the Cremated Dead. 4.Exploring Funeral Law, Migration, and Religious Expression in Italy: A Decolonial Perspective. Part II - Mediations, Representations, and Colonial Echoes. 5.Death and Colonial Hangover in The Vampire Diaries: A Study of Representations in the Audiovisual Fantasy Genre. 6.Deadbots as new fetish of postmortal societies: A "digital decolonization" of death? 7.Mediation and mediatisation of death and dying: A scoping review of the literature based on a decolonial perspective. 8.Surrendering to death and its aftermath: Conceptual explorations in the era of coloniality/modernity. Part III - Necropolitics, Marginalisation, and Resistance. 9.Death, relationality and resistance against necropolitical violence in Latin America. 10.Ritualising and Memorialising Unjust Death: The Affective Force of COVID Loss in Brazil and the United States. 11.The Moral, Social and Political Death of Trans Community. A Queer Death Studies: A systematic review. 12.Death is a drag: Performatic encounters, mourning rhythms, and Brazilian gambiarra. Part IV - Rewordling, Myth, and Community. 13.A Migrant Dies in Egypt: Jacob's Spectacular Repatriation to his Family Tomb. 14.Druze Reincarnation: Migration, Political Agency and Grief. 15.Grief at the end of the Anthropocene: Climate emergency, loss and eco-grief. 16.Decolonising Death: Indigenisation of Community Collaboration.