Canning and Szmigin (2010) looked at disposal choices and their different environmental impacts and the choice is essentially between traditional burial and cremation. Burial especially with ornate caskets is not environmentally friendly and the space that is taken up by plots for graves is valuable land in some societies. They advocate cremation but note however that the energy requirements to reduce the body to ‘ashes’ is considerable and the danger of pollutants such as mercury in teeth fillings is also present. However natural burial involving the use of woodland and natural materials seems to satisfy many of our ecological concerns and avoids some of commercial pricing of a more conventional disposal (Clayden & Dixon, 2007).
I would like to end now by taking the paper by Clayden and Dixon (2007) with one by Bonsu and Belk (2003) which together challenge in different ways the finality and closure that death seems to provide. Bonsu and Belk (2003) examined death rituals among the Asante in the African state of Ghana. In Western society according to the authors one strove for symbolic immortality through acquisition of heirlooms, expensive and ostentatious funeral arrangements and consumption in general with hope that after death one’s reputation, if sullied in life might be rehabilitated after one has gone. The elephant in the room is the terror of death that is presumed to affect us all despite attempts at anaesthetisation for believers with promises of an afterlife. This edifice of theory and evidence (my metaphor) is reviewed here in this chapter as Terror Management Theory . The picture that emerges from their intensive interviews with the Asante was of a society where death was not the end. Their belief system includes a strong strand of predestination where one’s fate is predetermined before birth . Moral conduct however will influence one’s destiny as for example helping one’s dying relatives could be regarded as interfering with the will of the Supreme Being and ignoring illness is the best policy as illness could be punishment by the ancestors for transgression. The ancestors are omnipresent. Living (and dying) within this framework then inculcates the view that death is just a transition to an ancestral state. The focus of the lengthy funeral ceremonies is the conspicuous expression to the community of material and symbolic wealth and there are ongoing exchanges between the living and the dead. As the dead are seen as an intrinsic part of ongoing daily life then the status of deceased can still be negotiated after death. The essence of this belief system is the tenet that death is a major means of regenerating life (op. cit., p. 53). If we turn now to Clayden and Dixon (2007) we can see a parallel. These authors want to see if there any support for the idea that ‘natural burial ’ is becoming popular because of a growing ecological awareness in the population of the UK and if the idea of ‘ecological immortality’ i.e. contributing to the ecosystem by this way of disposing has resonance. The green movement has been around for many years now and many people try to adhere to its principles in consumption and in life. So why not in death? There is one extra actor on the stage though and that is the tree which will act as a memorial object and is planted beside the grave. Why a tree? Perhaps it’s symbolic of one’s ‘green’ credentials as the word ‘green’ can be used in the rather derogatory sense of ‘tree-hugger’. However it deserves better treatment than that. It’s symbolically permanent as it can easily outlast you 9 and thus has a symbolic role. Tree destruction concerns people as in the song ‘Woodman spare that tree’ and environmentalists will occupy trees (Swampy, n.d.) when roads, a symbol of the built environment comes up against nature, represented in trees that must be saved.
So we can leave now I think with this rather peaceful vision of our last act of consumption . Or is it gift-giving when our bodies are laid to rest in that earth and slowly decay and become bones and soil? Symbolic immortality , or at least a much longer life for the tree which will be there thriving after one’s children and grandchildren have departed. Have I forgotten something? I have avoided any mention of religion or an afterlife as I am wary of stepping on your toes with comments that will pit one group against another and we have seen too much conflict already between those who adhere to one set of religious beliefs and others who don’t. But listen to just one last word. When I go, as I must then my individual self will be no more. Some religions recognise this and advocate the negation of self as a route to enlightenment before death , an article of faith that I am not unsympathetic to. However another article of faith which is so basic as to be part of most versions of metaphysics unless you are a solipsist 10 is that you are reading what I’m writing and you are alive and there is a world out there that is still full of humanity and hope. Maybe you will have children and many years from now they and their generations will live in a strange and brave new world. The ultimate death would be the annihilation of humankind and life itself. And that, folks is all.
Notes
1.I am excluding what is euphemistically called ‘assisted dying ’ and neglecting firms such as Dignitas that provide such a service in certain countries where they are legal.
2.Often these are decorated with possessions such as football shirts or toys if the deceased was a child or young person and if the ground is hallowed e.g. by the established church and the decorations verge on the side of kitsch, the priest or vicar is faced with a dilemma of whether to ban certain forms as undignified.
3.Literal immortality include religions that promise an afterlife, usually with several caveats linked to moral conduct whereas symbolic immortality means your memories live on in others and your creative output ranging from diaries to philosophy are there for future generations.
4.In-group favouritism in social identity theory refers to preference or behaviour towards the in-group being more positive than toward the out-group. When this occurs the in- and out-groups become more different and distinct than they were.
5.This concern for future generations and one’s present contributions to it would include agreeing to scale items like ‘I have important skills that I try to teach others’ and ‘I feel as though my contributions will exist after I die’ which are from the Loyola Generativity Scale (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992).
6.As communities change and urban life becomes more anonymous it might be anticipated that such social displays are unnecessary as they are playing to empty houses. However ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘he/she would have wanted it this way…’ can still have an influence.
7.This brief reference to Walter (2005) does not do justice to a detailed paper with an extensive list of references for the interested researcher in this area.
8.These were played on a gramophone as 78s or else on an organ if one was fortunate to be cremated in one of the six in the UK that had such an instrument.
9.There is a curiosity or fascination with old trees. As a child I was told that an ancient yew tree in Fortingall (a village in Scotland) was alive when Pontius Pilate was born—there is a myth that Pilate was born in Fortingall. I remembered this when I last saw it many years ago.
10.Solipsists believe that the self is all that can be known to exist.
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Index
0-9
9–11
A
Aaker, J.
Abeles, N.
Achenreiner, G.B.
Adams, G.R.
Adams, G.S.
Adolph, K.E.
Adult
Adulthood
Advergames
Advertising literacy
Affect
Affective aspects
Affect transfer
Affordance
Agentic child
Aggarwal, P.
Aided recall
Alexander, T.M.
Allocentric child
Anality
Ancestors
Angst
Anthropomorphisation
Apple
Appreciation
Ariès, Phillippe
Arndt, J.
Arnould, E.J.
Asante
Attachment
Attention
Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA)
Attitude
Attribution theory
Authoritative style of parenting
Auty, S.
Avatar
Awe
B
Babies
Baby boomer
Baillargeon, R.
Baker, A.
Bannister, R.
Barenbrug, Max
Bargh, D.
Bargh, J.A.
Barry, T.E.
Bartholomew, A.
Bartlett, Frederic
Bauer, P.J.
Baumgartner, H.
Becker, E.
Belk, R.W.
Bellezza, S.
Bereavement
Bernier, A.
Bernstein, B.
Berti, A.E.
Bigger/better relationship
Bijmolt, T.H.A.
Birth
Bjorklund, D.F.
Blades, M.
Blake, P.R.
Bodhi, B.
Bollas, C.
Bombi, A.S.
Bonn, M.
Bonsu, S.K.
Boomer generation
Boomers
Borghi, A.M.
Bottom-up processing
Bourdieu, P.
Brand
Brand awareness
Brand name bias
Consumer Psychology Page 42
