Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variation in American Mortuary and Funerary Practice

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Funerals play crucial social roles in bringing people together to honor, celebrate, and mourn deceased loved ones. Death is a universal human experience, but funeral practices, which honor the dead vary widely across human cultures. Researching these customs can thus shed light on many aspects of social life in a given society. In the United States, commercial death care is remarkably uniformed, yet it remains one of the most racially segregated sectors of the economy. This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of scientific data collection and analysis, asks why this is the case, and what African American funeral practices can reveal how race has shaped American society. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in scientific methods of rigorous data collection and analysis, the project would engage a wider audience in the scientific process. Findings will be widely disseminated to organizations and individuals in the funerary and mortuary science professions. This project broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science. LaShaya Howie, under the supervision of Dr. Shannon Dawdy of the University of Chicago, asks what factors contribute to the racial dynamics of funerary and mortuary practices in the U.S. Funeral practices have become increasingly homogenous across American society since the Civil War, particularly through the last century with advances in mortuary technology. African American funeral and mortuary practices have historically been highly specialized as an industry, and have remained so long after the end of segregation. The researcher explores the role that culture and race have in sustaining that specialization. Field work will be conducted in sites of mortuary and funerary practice on the southside of Chicago, a context long known for its role in shaping and representing African American life. Because of variability in the circumstances surrounding death, there is richer data set from which to analyze funeral practices in these communities. The researcher has conducted research there since 2016, having established and maintained important institutional and personal contacts that will facilitate detailed data collection and produce significant research findings. She will focus on professionals who work in African American funeral homes and related places, such as churches and cemeteries, and who participate in professional organizations for death care providers. Funeral workers retrieve bodies; cremate or embalm them; communicate with insurance companies and government agencies; and, when requested, guide loved ones through planning and conducting funeral and memorial services. Given the persistent racial separation in death care, this project?s researchers will assess how Black funeral professionals and their customers define Black funeral practices to determine what they consider unique. They will also examine how these descriptions are related to the way people think about race in the United States more generally. And because the corpse has been a central part of mortuary customs, the investigators will also assess the changing significance of the corpse in Black funeral service as the rising popularity of cremation challenges the more common American tradition of embalming and burial. Methods, include observational research in a variety of funerary settings (funeral services at funeral homes, churches, and meetings as families make funeral arrangements), interviews with funeral professionals, and overseeing panel discussions and events at national funeral conventions where attendees discuss pertinent issues, challenges, and changes in the business in order to make comparisons between what is observed in the Chicago area and in other locations across the U.S. and abroad. Findings from this research will provide insight into what American funeral practices are today and how they are evolving. This research will thereby provide valuable insights about American society through its death practices and what they may teach us. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.