Paper short abstract:

We describe and analyse practices of Muslim burials in North-West Europe, and explore negotiations between cultural and religious tradition, place and identity, and the regulation of cemeteries and burial, to demonstrate the complex ways death is encountered, negotiated, and governed.

Paper long abstract:

Places shape and are shaped by personal and collective identities and experiences mediated by the state and other actors, and this not only pertains to life, but also to matters related to death. Cemeteries are imbued with emotion, meaning and associations, and are often subject to social contestation and power. This paper starts from the observation that cemeteries are regulated in how they are managed, and experienced. These regulations are in many ways plural: they can be secular or religious, formal or informal, (trans)national or local, collective or individual. In the context of diverse and diversifying North-West Europe, complex experiences of these spaces and regulations arise which can be both limiting and enabling, including and excluding.

We explore contemporary cemeteries and their multi-level regulative systems in medium to large-sized towns in Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Norway. Specifically, we look at how Muslim burial is practiced and experienced in these contexts, and how cultural and religious traditions and norms are flexible and responsive to these regulatory contexts. In particular, we pay attention to the significance of space and place in relation to death, mourning and remembrance (Kong 1999; Madrell and Sidaway 2010), and how this sits in tension and dialogue with the assumptions of the dominant culture of these countries, preferences of Muslim communities, and practical constraints. By bringing together these experiences, we demonstrate how complex and nuanced the negotiation of death is for minority and/or migrant communities.