Introduction

This chapter offers an introduction to the larger volume on The Routledge Handbook of Death and the Afterlife, summarizing chapters included in the volume, explaining their order, and offering a critique of further explorations that need to be made in the field of thanatology. In particular, I argue that current studies in dying, death, and grief remain heavily influenced by Western Protestantism, and to a lesser degree, white American and English scholars. While this handbook seeks to offer initial correctives to that end through its broad array of specialists in non-Western cultures and non-native English speakers, much remains to be done in this area.