ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors consider the cemetery landscape, the conditions for attending a grave that are set up through managerial practice and the levels of confidence this generates for conduct at the grave and a more or less satisfactory mourning experience. The authors analyze the ways in which material objects – stones, inscriptions, plants and flowers – along with the dispositions – bodily, emotional and theological – of mourners are entailed at each site, both in the appearance of the grave and in the attributes of accessibility, safety and a trustworthy management for the cemetery as a whole. The purpose of the tombstone is to name and honour the deceased and to designate a particular grave where family members may visit their dead. The significance of the stone as a site of memory is, we suggest, contingent upon sustained engagement with it, from selection to inscription, erection, visitation and continued upkeep.
