1st Edition

Last Rites The Work of the Modern Funeral Director

By Glennys Howarth Copyright 1996
    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book examines death rituals and the social significance of undertaking in western society and presents an ethnographic account of funeral directing in an area of east London which, for the purposes of anonymity. It is concerned with undertakers' perceptions and organization of death rituals.

    Introduction

    CHAPTER 1 Modern Death Rituals and the Undertaker

    CHAPTER 2 The Business of Funeral Directing

    CHAPTER 3 Funeral Directing in Easton

    CHAPTER 4 Becoming an Undertaker

    CHAPTER 5 The Contaminated Corpse

    CHAPTER 6 Making Arrangements

    CHAPTER 7 Humanizing the Body

    CHAPTER 8 The Funeral Ceremony

    CONCLUSION: The Undertaker: Past, Present, and Future

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Glennys Howarth