Paper short abstract:

In approaching death as a movement of opening rather than closure (Ingold 2011), I explore the spatio-temporal disjunctures between medico-legal trajectories of living and dying, where lives start and stop, and the cyclic comings and goings of Buddhist and Hindu bodies.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I explore the disjuncture between medico-legal trajectories of living and dying, where lives start and stop, and the cyclic comings and goings of Buddhist and Hindu bodies. Drawing on fieldwork with Buddhist and Hindu communities in Adelaide, I reveal the multiple spatio-temporalities that become implicated in end-of-life decision-making about where, when and how one might die. I trace how persons can be affected by what happens after biomedical death, including the handling of the body, how the living may encounter the presence of those who have passed, and how rebirth propels the dead forwards, their bodies and biographies becoming interwoven with new persons and things. In approaching death as a movement of opening (Ingold 2011), I make space for trajectories of living and dying that run counter to public policy instruments that focus on an irrevocable end to life.

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates how changes to the ontological status of the dead in contemporary Japan - from Buddhas and ancestors, to beloved antecedents and angels - are manifest in material exchanges with the living. It examines evolving designs and practices for domestic Buddhist altars (butsudan).

Paper long abstract:

This paper describes how contemporary shifts in the identity of the Japanese dead are not only reflected in, but crafted through, new artefacts of memorialisation and multi-sensory exchanges with the living.

Early symbolic-structuralist analyses of Japanese death rites (cf. Ooms, 1967) describe how the living 'socialize' the dead through successive ritual actions. The dead are transformed from unruly spirits, to Buddhas (hotoke) and then ancestors (senzo), who guard the household lineage (i'e). Since the 1980s, Japanese scholars have described the impact of demographic shifts - notably, the amelioration of the household as the socio-legal kinship unit and the rise of the nuclear family - on this formation, and the transformation of the dead from "ancestors" to "beloved antecedents" (Suzuki, 1998).

However, studies have primarily focused on symbolic and social structures, and neglected the material artefacts through which the dead become sensible and knowable, and through which the living can contact, and indeed affect, the dead. Domestic Buddhist altars (butsudan) have been the primary technology for conducting such exchanges in Japanese homes since at least the 7th century, and more recently, have undergone significant changes in design and use. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with butsudan producers and consumers, my paper explores how evolving material memorial assemblages manifest new identities for the dead in the world of the living. Contemporary butsudan practice reveals that people often exist in multiple states and locations of 'dead' at once, which are accessed by the living through activating different sensory channels between life and death.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I will analyse some relational projects with the dead, which include a continuity with the ante-mortem relationship, are constituted by my informants through specific uses of prayers and their sometimes ambiguous consideration of Islamic elites' theories of the dead's ontology.

Paper long abstract:

Senegal can be called an Islamic nation, since most declare themselves Muslim, and religious elites have enough power to counter some state institutions and policies. Through recurrent speeches held in various occasions, including in the mass media, the Islamic intelligentsia promulgate a particular conception of the dead, and the bonds the living should have with them. The core concepts of the ontologically dependent dead, who need the prayers of the living to have a peaceful afterlife, and the duty this entails for the living, a continuation of the everyday ethos of mutual aid, belong to common sense for my informants. Yet, more elaborated (and diverging) theories of the religious elites about the dead's ontology and the use which prayers have for them are often more critically examined.

In this presentation, I will analyse how the various prayer formulae available to help the dead, as well as the temporality of praying, allow for some choices in the réalisation of the ritual act which become meaningful in the interpretive framework of a "relational project" implying some continuities with past relationships with the dead, which goes beyond the notion of duty towards the dead. These relational projects are only possible because of the widely accepted notion that the dead have kept their personality and know what the livings do for them. Nevertheless, I will show that the doubts some actors have towards certain erudite theories about the usefulness of prayers and ontologies of the dead also generate some ambiguities in these relational projects.

Paper short abstract:

I examine the language used when Spiritualist mediums communicate with spirits. Mediums say they are demonstrating the proof of human survival after death. Moments of doubt mark interactions between mediums and recipients as they try to come to agreement on the character of an invisible being.

Paper long abstract:

Spiritualism, a religion often associated with Victorian Britain, is alive and well in Australia with more than 11,500 adherents. A central tenet of Spiritualism is that there is no such thing as death. People who die physically simply move to a new level of existence and go on to make continual spiritual progress. In this paper, I examine the language used in ritual performances in which mediums identify the spirits of deceased people trying to make contact with the physically living. Spiritualist mediums hold that they are not engaged in religious practice, but rather are empirically demonstrating the proof of human survival after physical death. As such, there are moments of hesitation, doubt, and denial in interactions between mediums and recipients as the partners in dialogue attempt to come to an agreement on the character of an invisible being. In connecting spirits from the astral plane to humans in the physical one, mediums aim to share messages that will assist the living--both in terms of concrete, practical ways about how to handle life's difficulties, and in more philosophical terms of understanding that there is no such thing as death and kinship is quite literally forever.

Paper short abstract:

Social networking sites and online memorials are incorporated into the remembering of war dead in Vietnam. Online mediums both align themselves with state notions of remembrance, while also affording new opportunities to remember and continue relationships with those not sanctioned by the state.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the impact online memorialisation has on remembering war dead from the American/Vietnam War . With a particular focus on Facebook, it will explore the core themes of remembering and forgetting within the state of Vietnam, examining how the medium of the Internet both allows for remembering which is publically and socially sanctioned, while also being a medium for new forms of remembering not so easily attained offline. This will be addressed through the example of revolutionary martyrs in Vietnam who are recognised and remembered by the state, before turning its attention for those who fought for the opposing regime, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), who are largely erased from the public memory scape. Online however, there are opportunities for memory, and new ways for the dead to speak. Through this, the paper explores the powerful questions of who does or does not have the right to be remembered in society, and the wider issues pertaining to the intersection of the online, continuing relationships and the state in contemporary Vietnam.

Paper short abstract:

This paper contrasts local and state perspectives on death and dying in PNG. Despite their use, state enumeration and death certificates have little currency for most PNG citizens. Instead, the focus at local level is on continuing relationships with the deceased spirit in whatever form they take.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines contrasting local and state perspectives on death and dying in PNG. In recent decades particular forms of death in PNG have gained national and international attention. Maternal mortality, infant mortality, and deaths due to HIV or TB, for example, are recorded and enumerated, with rates calculated and debated. These are critical in positioning the PNG state with respect to other nations, and for garnering international health programs and donor support. Other deaths, like those associated with sorcery and accusations, have been the subject of intense national public concern, and have been met with state-wide responses including repealing sorcery laws, re-introducing the death penalty and national protest movements.

These state level responses to the politics of death seem far removed from responses at the local level to the deaths of intimate kin. Many of these deaths occur without a formal 'medical' diagnosis, occur outside of medical establishments, and autopsies are rare. State enumeration and formal death certificates which suggest a clear shift of state from living to dead have little currency for most PNG citizens. Instead, the focus at local level is on the continuing relationship with the deceased spirit in whatever form they take.

Paper short abstract:

What can we learn from those who derive meaning from psychedelic states of consciousness, and shift those understandings into their waking state? Ego-death experienced during altered states offer possibilities for becoming otherwise— other-than-human and modern— in an era requiring rapid change.

Paper long abstract:

What can we learn from those who derive meaning and value from the psychedelic state of consciousness, and shift those transformative understandings into their waking state? Ego-death experienced during altered states of consciousness offer possibilities for becoming otherwise— other-than-human and other-than-modern— in an era where eco-systems and lifeforms are becoming increasingly vulnerable. How can we, as anthropologists, deliberate the role of psychedelic states in regards to the future of this discipline, and humanity more broadly? By focusing on qualitative data concerning ayahuasca use, this paper shows how ayahuasca initiates decipher the frontiers between life and death, and death and rebirth. This paradox, whereby my informants choose to experience 'death' in order to exist more consciously, is of utmost relevance in the Anthropocene: "We must die in order to truly live. We must experience absolute non-existence in order to truly exist in a conscious way" (Adyashanti, cited in Sandler 2015). This paper explores how ego-death, facilitated through intentional and shamanic methods, promotes a sense of 'oneness' and 'unity' that persists into the waking state and awakens another way of being. By investigating the narratives of those who 'die' before death, a subsequent purpose of this paper is to explore how ayahuasca-induced ego-death might promote a reconceptualised, evolutionary-conscious, becoming.

Paper short abstract:

The sense of parenthood following pregnancy loss is particularly challenged by the lack of legal certificates following miscarriages, unlike stillbirths. This paper uses understandings of kinship as legal and social categories to examine the paradox of parenthood rooted in pregnancy loss in England.

Paper long abstract:

The sense of parenthood following a miscarriage is questioned by death and nourished by grief. The ambivalence of this kind of parenthood has been addressed by various researchers who examined the difficulties of displaying parenthood to others (Murphy & Thomas 2013), conflicting understandings of the loss (Komaromy et al. 2007; Malacrida 1999), or the paradoxical nature of materiality and immateriality of memories (Layne 2003), among others. Miscarriages, unlike stillbirths, do not require the issuing of legal certificates in England, which calls into question the formal parental status of those who have lost a pregnancy. Simultaneously, care and support following pregnancy loss is structured around recognising the feelings of bereaved parents. This paper aims to explore the ambiguities of parenthood following a miscarriage in England, paying particular attention to the impact of the lack of legal recognition on the sense of parenthood. An analysis of interviews with people who experienced miscarriage and those who cared for them, as well as an analysis of resources directed at these groups (leaflets, books, support guidelines, etc.) help to illuminate the challenges of navigating the precarious sense of parenthood that is deeply anchored in the grief caused by the absence of a child and the unfulfillable dreams that may result from a pregnancy loss. By exploring the implications of lack of legal requirements for miscarriage certificates, this paper uses understandings of kinship as legal and social categories to examine the paradox of parenthood rooted in pregnancy loss.

Paper short abstract:

A dead woman plays a significant role in my research: in her continued role in her family's life and our relationships. Her father has resisted state control and seized 'care' of his dead daughter: her body, spirit and memory. I explore the power of death to both unearth and generate.

Paper long abstract:

A key person in my PhD research in Victoria, is an Aboriginal woman who has 'passed away': a mother, sister, daughter and niece. She died just before I met her family, who became my key research respondents and friends. In this paper I explore how my relationships with her family are mediated by the dead and the central role she has continued to play in their lives and our conversations. My relationship to this dead woman has caused me to interrogate my own beliefs around death and my relationship to my own family, dead and living. It has provided insight into the complexities of the themes I explore in my thesis around loss, continuity and possibility. This woman's story, and that of her children, illustrates the continued force of the state in her family's life. This is often under the guise of 'care'. Her father, in particular, carries a history of constant intervention into his intimate family life by the state. His negotiation of his daughter's death, her body, spirit and memory, demonstrates a resistance to state control and the taking back of care. Being part of this negotiation reveals a disturbing difference between my family and hers- that of premature death. This has flung me head first into addressing my positionality as a middle class white woman, a beneficiary of colonisation. Beyond a reflexive exercise, it reveals the dangerous and powerful nature of death to lay things bare and to generate opportunities to renegotiate relationships and challenge authority.