ABSTRACT
This Handbook traces the history of the changing notion of what it means to die and examines the many constructions of afterlife in literature, text, ritual, and material culture throughout time. The Routledge Handbook of Death and the Afterlife is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject. Comprising twenty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into three parts and covers the following important themes:
- The study of dying, death, and grief
- Disposal of the dead: past, present, and future
- Representations of death: narratives and rhetoric
- Youth meets death: a juxtaposition
- Questionable deaths and afterlives: suicide, ghosts, and avatars
- Material corpses and imagined afterlives around the world
Within these sections, central issues, debates, and problems are examined, including: the world of death and dying from various cultural viewpoints and timeframes, cultural and social constructions of the definition of death, disposal practices, and views of the afterlife.
The Routledge Handbook of Death and the Afterlife is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|39 pages
The study of dying, death, and grief
part II|80 pages
Disposal of the dead
chapter 5|17 pages
Symbolizing imperial affiliation in death
chapter 8|11 pages
Stand by me
part III|71 pages
Representations of death
chapter 15|9 pages
De imago to word
part IV|36 pages
Youth meets death
part V|62 pages
Questionable deaths and afterlives
chapter 20|22 pages
How not to become a ghost
part VI|102 pages
Material corpses and imagined afterlives around the world