Prepared for Death: Post-mortem ritual in the age of photography

Smith, Phyll (2014) Prepared for Death: Post-mortem ritual in the age of photography. In: On Death - an interdisciplinary seminar, 2014-01-22 - 2014-03-26, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This paper aims to cover certain aspects of western, particularly British funerary culture, of the recent past, particularly around the turn of the millennium, I want to outline the less formal and less practical aspects of the last offices of the dead, those that relate to more spontaneous expressions of belief, kinship and remembrance, and to folk practice and ritual. Drawing a distinction between what I’ll call the formal last offices – those performed by the undertaker, embalmer, funeral director or perhaps the coroner or mortician, things which are recorded in local bylaws, medical regulations and corporate codes of practice here and there (but in nowhere near the sort of detail you’d imagine); and those which I’m interested in - the informal Last Offices, those semi-social semi-ritual customs performed by families and friends in the course of the preparation of a body prior to the funeral, behaviour that is spontaneous rather than proscribed. The bulk of past funerary culture we understand through written records in terms of high caste beliefs and formal religious practice, but common practice and belief, folk custom and understanding comes through analysis of burial practice, not so much the remains themselves but the evidence of how they were interred, preserved, displayed or prepared, and particularly through the evidence of their grave goods. This is in turn more difficult for cultures who practiced cremation, where durable or post incineration grave goods become the only key evidence. If we investigate modern British funerary culture, or of future archaeologists try to investigate our beliefs and practices, what evidence would remain? – the bulk of funerals involve cremation, and the comminution of remains leaving nothing of the grave goods whatsoever, modern burial is short term (most gravesites are purchased for 100 years, but pressure on space is forcing this down) and the deliberately degradable nature of most caskets and coffin furniture and the non-durability of much of the grave goods. The actual practices of families and individuals, in paying respect and displaying kinship with the deceased, goes unrecorded - partially observed by the funeral industry in a pact of 'don't look don't tell'. This paper seeks to take a measured view of these rituals particularly the role of photographs, while contextualising their place and function.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Media, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2025 11:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100747
DOI:

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