African funerals and sociocultural change

Funerals in Africa. Explorations of a Social Phenomenon, 2011

Journal of Social History, 2022

This essay studies changes to mortuary practices in colonial Gold Coast (southern Ghana) beginning with the British state's creation of town cemeteries in the late nineteenth century. It argues that the colonial state enforced cemetery burial because they realized Gold Coast people would never sell their land if it contained the remains of their elders; cemeteries were therefore a crucial tool in the transformation of land into private property for state dispossession. However, the invention of cemeteries had a significant impact on how communities worshipped, and conceived of, ancestral spirits. By gathering ancestors from the various households into a single site, the graveyard created an "ancestral public," a community of ancestors who protected the community collectively. Their invention changed Gold Coast communities' relationship to spirits, the afterlife, and property. What ensued were political contestations over rightful burial places, mortuary authority, and what will be called "the necropolitics of property"-the decision of who could, or who could not, enter the afterlife, and what consequences this had for estates.

Mvita: Bulletin of the Regional Centre for the Study of Archaeology in Eastern and Southern Africa, 1998

The ethnographic record indicates that disposal of the dead by leaving their corpses in the bush was once a widespread feature of mortuary practice in East Africa, practised by many Bantu as well as non-Bantu speakers. The following notes describe an interesting variation upon this practice, recorded (and still remembered) among different groups of Bantu speakers in what is now south-west Tanzania. Whereas most peoples known to have disposed of their dead in this way appear to have done so in any convenient spot away from habitation, the Sangu and others referred to below “threw away” their dead in particular sites designated for this purpose. These sites for communal disposal are recognisable by their common names and, though no longer used in quite the same way, are still feared through their association with death. [A French translation of this paper by Edouard Bugingo, 'Jeter les cadavres: Sites communs où sont déposés les cadavres au sud-ouest tanzanien dans la periode pre-coloniale, is posted here: http://notesandrecords.blogspot.com/2009/04/jeter-les-cadavres-sites-communs-ou.html]

2016

How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Follow this and additional works at: http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb Part of the African American Studies Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, History of Religion Commons, Oral History Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Other Religion Commons, and the Social History Commons

2019

2008

Sapientia Global Journal of Arts and Humanities and Development Studies Vol 5 No 1 , 2022

The Ibibio view death as a transition from the visible to the invisible world, no wonder they believe that death is an unavoidable phenomenon. From the spiritual, the dead are believed to influence the living in the physical realm. The spiritual world is believed to maintain transcendental powers over the cosmological and terrestrial elements of the universe. Despite these, man has the power to manipulate the spirits and all in the world for his own good through rituals or insure the wrath of such spirits through carelessness. These views gives motivation to the Ibibio person in all he does religiously and otherwise in life including death and burial rites. This paper arrived at examining Ibibio burial rites as a rite of passage. This paper adopts a comparative approach. We have discovered that the Ibibio's people in south-south Nigeria belief in the concept of life after death, that is why they indulged in elaborate burial rites as a result of the belief that Ekpo Akpa Enyin Ikpaha Utong meaning, someone is physically dead, but the ears are still opened for the dead to hear. It is this belief that pushes them to observe chronological burial rites in order to secure a place for the deceased in the abode of the ancestors. Since burial cannot be conducted without death occurring, as such, this work will show the various types of burial rites in Ibibio.

THE DIKAKA'S TRADITION OF BURIAL IN THE ANCESTRAL TOMB AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHURCH TODAY, 2022

It was Stephen Prothero who said in the introductory part of his book, titled Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America, 2001; that in every human society the living care for the dead. This care may include cleaning it, shaving it, dressing it, putting it on display, speaking to it, praying over it, caressing it, lavishing praise on it, offering it food, and otherwise facilitating its entrance into whatever, if anything, lies ahead. Closing the eyes and mouth of the deceased Straightening the limbs, covering the deceased, often with a sheet, placing a candle near the head of the deceased, opening the windows in the room (if weather is problematic, windows are opened briefly, then closed again), etc. When all is said and done, however, a dead body has to be disposed of, banished, so the living could continue with their task1. This statement is true of Africa, especially in Dikaka's tradition. It is in Africa where you will see the living fighting, staying hungry, and putting a stop to their activities to care for the dead, some Africans may even kill to secure the corpse of a loved one. In the African worldview, death is not the end of the journey, but a glorious beginning to join the ancestors. It is a belief that gives solace to hearts pinned in pain after the demise of a loved one. This work explores instances in the Bible where the funerary practices are done in relation to culture and identifies a common pattern, attempts an explanation of the meaning of burial and cremation in relation to Jesus and use that understanding to interpret the problem of cremation and give a concluding statement.

Africa, 2006

This essay describes (1) how mortuaries changed the Akan funeral culture of Ghana and (2) how that converged with the interests of relatives and hospital managers. Such a development would not have been possible, however, (3) without the money provided by well-to-do relatives staying abroad. Mortuaries enable relatives to stretch the liminal period between death and funeral as long as they want to while they prepare everything for a grand funeral. For hospitals, this new fashion means an attractive extra source of income, as the mortuary is more lucrative than its medical services. My observations derive from anthropological fieldwork in Kwahu, Ghana.