Mobilities in Life and Death
This open access book focuses on migrant and minority cemetery needs through the conceptual lens of the mobilities of the living and the dead. In doing so, the book brings migration and mobility studies into much-needed dialogue with death studies to explore the symbolically and politically important issue of culturally inclusive spaces of cemeteries and crematoria for migrants and established minorities. The book addresses majority and minority cemetery and crematoria provisions and practices in a range of North West European contexts. It describes how the planning, management and use of cemeteries and crematoria in multicultural societies can tell us about the everyday lived experiences of migration and migrant heritage, urban diversity, social inclusion and exclusion in Europe, and how these relate to migrant and minority experience of lived citizenship, practices of territoriality and bordering, colonial/postcolonial narratives.
The book will be of interest to readers in the fields of migration/mobilities studies and death studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners, such as local government officers, cemetery managers and city planners.
New Perspectives on Urban Deathscapes
"This volume challenges us to rethink the diversity of deathscapes – not just cemeteries and columbaria but also retirement homes, hospitals, museums and Facebook pages. Through the fraught terrain of death, the window on life is turned upside-down, giving us a ground-up view of contestations across social-political, familial and technological spheres." – Brenda Yeoh, National University of Singapore
"Focussing on the urban areas where most humans now live and where conflict, insecurity, migration and violence can characterise death as well as life, this fascinating, disturbing yet hopeful book re-sets the agenda for research into deathscapes." – Tony Walter, University of Bath, UK
Establishing a new set of international perspectives from around the world on experiences of death, disposition and remembrance in urban environments, this book brings deathscapes – material, embodied and emotional places associated with dying and death – to life. It pushes the boundaries of established empirical and conceptual understandings of death in urban spaces through anthropological, geographical and ethnographic insights.
Chapters reveal how urban deathscapes are experienced, used, managed and described in specific locales in varied settings; how their norms and values intersect and at times conflict with the norms of dominant and assumed practices; and how they are influenced by the dynamic practices, politics and demographics typical of urban spaces. Case studies from across Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America highlight the differences between deathscapes, but also show their clear commonality in being as much a part of the world of the living as they are of the dead.
With a people- and space-centred approach, this book will be an interesting read for human geography, death studies and urban studies scholars, as well as social and cultural anthropologists and sociologists. Its international and interdisciplinary nature will also make this a beneficial book for planning and landscape architecture, religious studies and courses on death practices.
Aspirations of Young Adults in Urban Asia
“This collection of essays presents anthropologists' ethnographic research on young adults' aspirations primarily in East and Southeast Asia. The editors helpfully contextualize these studies within the broader realm of aspirations research…This work will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of anthropology and aspirations research, and to a secondary audience among those working in Asian studies.” - Choice
“The ethnographic chapters of this book, exploring the aspirations of young adults in various Asian societies, are generally quite perceptive and well-written—this book is fun to read”. - Gordon Mathews, Chinese University of Hong Kong
“This volume is rich in valuable ethnographic evidence. Each author introduces a valid research perspective that opens meaningful themes of inquiry”. - Gil Hizi, University of Sydney
Comparing first-person ethnographic accounts of young people living, working, and creating relationships in cities across Asia, this volume explores their contemporary lives, pressures, ideals, and aspirations. Delving into topical issues such as education, social inequality, family pressures, changing values, precarious employment, and political discontent, the book explores how young people are pushing boundaries and imagining their future. In this way, they explore and create the identities of their local and global surroundings.