Death, Memory and Material Culture (Materializing Culture) Book

The role of material culture in mediating relationships between the living and the dead is crucial, yet very little critical attention has been paid to the role of objects in relation to death and memory. This book examines the significance of material culture in relation to memory and death, from personal mementos through to public memorials. It asks why material objects commemorating the dead have rarely been subjected to sustained analysis, and instead have sometimes been interpreted as empty political gestures, pathological obsessions, false idols or an inexpensive form of therapy. In short, this book explores a diversity of cultural meanings assigned to objects, texts and images throughout the dying process and in the formation of memories. In addressing these issues and many more, this timely book marks an important contribution to the study of memory, bereavement and loss, as well as to the anthropology and cultural history of deathRead More