ABSTRACT
The role of cultural representations within perceptions and experiences of the dying and dead body remains a subject of debate both within anthropological and sociological studies and within the wider contemporary public domain. This chapter addresses the ways in which the dying, dead and decaying body has been viewed, interpreted and assigned social and moral meanings via a range of visual forms including printed images, material objects, films and photographs. This leads to questions regarding the ways in which representations of the dead and dying body operate within the social and cultural processes which constitute selves, including those of the dying and deceased. Bronfen claims that ‘One cannot speak of an “essential” self preceding the social and cultural construction of self through the agency of representations’ (Bronfen, 1992:65). The dying, dead and decaying body has formed a compelling focus of Western European visual cultures, such that an exploration of the cultural construction of corporeality demands an analysis of visual forms such as these. Attending to the nuanced meanings of visual representations of the dead body requires an appreciation of cultural and historical context: the ways in which such images were produced and deployed within wider discourses and practices which shape perceptions of the self, personal morality, spirituality, conduct and social order. This chapter is concerned with the range of meanings encoded within such images, paying particular attention to the ways in which they work to construct notions of self and social identity.
