ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the breadth of sociological, cultural and anthropological perspectives of funerals as events found in this volume, while acknowledging the existence of events management and practitioner perspectives from within the traditional funeral industry, and from diverse celebrations and memorials of death in contemporary and historical practice. Death is the one event that none of us can evade, articulated through the events that surround it, through ways in which the end of life is marked (whether that be the life of an individual, a group or a community), and through evental structures across and between diverse cultural, ideological and societal contexts. This chapter tells the story of this book’s origins and inspirations, and reflects on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on funerary practices and memorialisations of death. It offers a new perspective that aims to inspire future research into a vital subject.
