Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variation in American Mortuary and Funerary Practice

博士论文研究：美国太平间和殡葬实践的变化

• 批准号: 1918154
• 负责人: Shannon Dawdy
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-01 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1918154&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Variation; American

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.

葬礼在将人们聚集在一起以荣誉、庆祝和哀悼已故的亲人方面发挥着至关重要的社会作用。死亡是一种普遍的人类经验，但葬礼的做法，其中荣誉死者在人类文化中有很大的差异。因此，研究这些习俗可以揭示特定社会社会生活的许多方面。在美国，商业死亡护理非常统一，但它仍然是经济中种族隔离最严重的部门之一。这个项目，培训研究生在科学数据收集和分析的方法，问为什么会这样，以及什么非洲裔美国人的葬礼惯例可以揭示种族如何塑造美国社会。该项目除了为培训一名人类学研究生提供资金，使其掌握严格收集和分析数据的科学方法外，还将使更广泛的受众参与科学进程。调查结果将广泛传播给殡葬科学专业的组织和个人。该项目扩大了历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。LaShaya Howie在芝加哥大学的Shannon Dawdy博士的监督下，询问是什么因素导致了美国葬礼和丧葬习俗的种族动态自内战以来，美国社会的葬礼习俗变得越来越同质化，特别是在上个世纪，随着丧葬技术的进步。非裔美国人的葬礼和太平间的做法在历史上一直是高度专业化的行业，并保持了这么长时间后，种族隔离结束。研究人员探讨了文化和种族在维持这种专业化方面的作用。实地工作将在芝加哥南部的停尸房和丧葬场所进行，这一背景长期以来以其塑造和代表非裔美国人生活的作用而闻名。由于围绕死亡的情况的变化，有更丰富的数据集，从这些社区的葬礼习俗进行分析。研究人员自2016年以来一直在那里进行研究，建立并保持了重要的机构和个人联系，这将有助于收集详细的数据并产生重要的研究结果。她将专注于在非洲裔美国人殡仪馆和相关场所工作的专业人士，如教堂和墓地，以及参加死亡护理提供者专业组织的专业人士。殡仪馆工作人员取回尸体;将其火化或防腐;与保险公司和政府机构沟通;并在要求时，指导亲人规划和举办葬礼和追悼会。考虑到死亡护理中持续存在的种族隔离，这个项目？研究人员将评估黑人葬礼专业人士和他们的客户如何定义黑人葬礼的做法，以确定他们认为独特的。他们还将研究这些描述如何与人们更普遍地看待美国种族的方式有关。由于尸体一直是太平间习俗的核心部分，调查人员还将评估尸体在黑人葬礼服务中不断变化的重要性，因为火葬的日益普及挑战了更常见的美国防腐和埋葬传统。方法，包括在各种葬礼设置观察研究（殡仪馆，教堂的葬礼服务，以及家庭安排葬礼时的会议），与葬礼专业人士的访谈，以及监督全国葬礼大会上的小组讨论和活动，与会者在会上讨论相关问题，挑战，和业务的变化，以便在芝加哥地区和美国其他地区以及国外观察到的情况之间进行比较。这项研究的结果将提供深入了解什么是美国葬礼的做法是今天和他们是如何演变。这项研究将因此提供有关美国社会通过其死亡的做法，他们可能教我们什么有价值的见解。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。