Someone dies in eastern Bangalore and happens to be Hindu, invariably Sowri Raja gets a call. Sowri Raja is the seventh-generation grave digger working and “living” in the Kalpalli Hindu burial ground. There has been an upgrade in the graveyard two decades ago. The city municipality has developed a high-tech crematorium which is managed by Sowri Raja’s brother Kutti. The front office of the cemetery is handled by Sathya, Sowri Raja’s daughter. Does it sound like a case of nepotism? […]

On March 11, 2011, the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region resulted in the deaths and disappearances of over 22,000 people. The remains had to be managed through a process that included searching for and collecting the bodies, their systematic administrative registration, identification, and the return of their remains to the families for funeral procedures, specifically cremation, in accordance with Japanese funerary customs. However, in the Ishinomaki region, a major coastal city in the Miyagi prefecture, […]

Tamara Ingels will bring new and innovative insights on the role, interpretation and possibilities of intergenerational dialogue within our death care and managing (historic) cemeteries. Starting from her own practice as a cemetery consultant and cemetery guide/docent, she developed a set of practical techniques and educational ideas. These focus on an adequate methodology for the intergenerational dialogue in a cemetery context and on the impact of this method on lifelong learning strategies within these unique places. […]

During the two world wars, Britain’s wartime enemy lost their lives in all corners of the country. German soldiers and civilians died in internment camps from sickness, disease and wounds, while in the skies above, German airmen died in First World War Zeppelin raids and in even great numbers some 25 years later during the Battle of Britain. Yet there are very few signs of these large-scale losses today. Despite the enemy generally being buried near where they died, […]

The emergence of new disposition technologies such as electric cremation, CNG-based cremation, biomass-based gasifier cremation, and improved wood crematoria (IWC) have opened a new area of death and technology in India. However, in the contemporary science, technology, societies (STS) literature intersection between death, belief and technology is less explored. The socio-political, cultural and economic structure is different in both the countries, India and China. The Confucian belief influences traditional China while, Hindu belief influences disposition technologies in India. […]

Reading Old Cemetery and Newbury Newtown Road are two early examples of Victorian garden cemeteries set up in Berkshire before 1850. We consider them as sister cemeteries, not only as they are located in the same county, had similar priorities around public health and civic pride when they were setup but also share connections in terms of families or individuals buried in their sites. Both have active special interest volunteer groups and organise regular community engagement events. […]