ABSTRACT
While it has been recognised that ‘natural’ symbols do not exist, the human body in many cultures forms a strong metaphorical basis for cosmological, social and political constructions (and vice versa) (Douglas 1996). The corpse can also be a powerful source of symbols (Metcalf and Huntington 1991). Harnessing this potential provides a greater potency to relationships and negotiations worked out between the living and the dead, as well as between various individuals and groups within the living community. As an example one can look at the eagerness with which the body parts of saints-relics-were sought in the medieval period. They were stolen, sold, traded and created, and they were embedded in political relationships between the Church and its sometimes wayward allies (Geary 1986). Acts involving the body, whether living or dead, possess a great capacity to engage us.
