Vital Signs 2: Paper Session 1a
Futures, expectations and imaginings
Tuesday 7 September, 2 - 3.30pm
'‘I just think of all the water and the rain washing through him’: postmortem imaginings and the practice of natural burial' - Andy Clayden, Prof Jenny Hockey and Trish Green (University of Sheffield)
This paper derives from a 3 year ESRC-funded study of the practice of natural burial which explores the diversity of interpretations of a concept which, at its initiation in 1993, was a clearly-defined commitment to the ecologically-sound disposal of the dead. Those now burying naturally in one of over 230 UK sites may choose between mortuary environments that range from corners of municipal cemeteries to the grand landscapes surrounding stately homes. Stereotypically associated with a tree planted above the corpse, in practice burying naturally occurs in many different ways. We ask how site users imagine what is to come: for the site itself, which at the time of burial may look more like a farmer’s field than ancient woodland; for the body of the deceased as it goes ‘back to nature’ in what might appear to be a relatively anonymous environment; for themselves as bereaved people. These data will be compared with interview material from owners/managers of these sites which examines the relationship between owners/managers’ occupational histories and how they anticipate their sites developing. Our focus, then, is the resources through which individual users envision a future landscape, a body decaying without the boundaries of kerb sets or cemetery walls; and their own emotional well-being as bereaved people for whom memorialisation at the grave will not be the ‘stuff’ of their future relationship with the deceased. To what extent, we ask, do these imaginings mesh with those of site owners/managers?
Presentation recording
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