Paper short abstract:

Taking the example of Cape Verdean funerals in Luxembourg, the paper asks whether post-modern spaces allow for pre-modern beliefs and practices.

Paper long abstract:

While we observe new forms of spirituality and a simultaneity of secular and post-secular attitudes and practices - and also a growing scholarly interest in these forms, e.g. in spiritism and the therapeutic effect of summoning and communicating with the dead - traditional or pre-modern beliefs and practices, like those one can encounter among Cape Verdeans in Luxembourg who experience the enduring and ambiguous presence of the spirit of a deceased relative, cannot easily become part of modern urban deathscapes.

The paper looks at the negotiation of funeral aesthetics, comprising the materiality of the grave and ritual/ceremonial practices, as well as at the concrete social encounters involved and the spaces created by these encounters. It argues that Cape Verdean funeral practices in Luxembourg are characterized not only by pre-modern spirituality but also by forms of pre-modern sociality that put into question clear distinctions of public/private and sacred/mundane spaces.