ABSTRACT
In applying the term "humanization" I refer to the techniques employed by embalmers who aim to restore "human-like" qualities to the deceased. When the funeral director assumes custody of the corpse it is contaminated in the sense that it is a receptacle for disease and a symbol of mortality. If the bereaved wish to view the body and they have no objection to it being embalmed, morticians use this technique to attempt to revitalize characteristics of the corpse which they consider will enhance human-likeness, for example, facial color and elasticity of skin. The objective is to supply, not merely a representation, but the physical presence of the individual. The desire to see the person once more, "as s/he was in life" can then be fulfilled. This aspiration celebrates individuality and in so doing hints at a form of immortality. It is not a physical immortality, nor in increasing secular societies is it spiritual, rather it is psychological, in the nature of "living on" in the minds of survivors.
