Why read Celebrations of Death?

Book cover of Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual

Book description

This revised edition of a cross-cultural study of rituals surrounding death has become a standard text in anthropology, sociology and religion. Part of its fascination is that in understanding other people's death rituals we are able to gain a better understanding of our own. The authors refer to a wide…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Celebrations of Death as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Gillian Gillison

Author

A fascinating in-depth look at why ideas of Dead White Men of the late 19th and early 20th Century—Émile Durkheim, Arnold van Gennep, Robert Hertz—still matter and are, indeed, indispensable for understanding funerals and death rituals in places like Borneo, Bali, Thailand, early Egypt, Africa, and America.

By examining mortuary rites cross-culturally, the authors expose elements of a 'deep structure' in ritual that may be universal, thus offering the 'thrill of recognition' of ourselves in others.

From Gillian's list on The best books on the anthropology of myth and ritual.