Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variation in American Mortuary and Funerary Practice

葬礼扮演着重要的社会角色，将人们聚集在一起，纪念、庆祝和哀悼死去的亲人。死亡是一种普遍的人类经历，但在不同的文化中，纪念死者的葬礼习俗却大相径庭。因此，研究这些习俗可以揭示特定社会中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。这个项目训练一名研究生掌握科学数据收集和分析的方法，它询问为什么会出现这种情况，以及非洲裔美国人的葬礼习俗可以揭示种族如何塑造美国社会。除了提供经费培训一名人类学研究生掌握严格数据收集和分析的科学方法外，该项目还将使更广泛的受众参与科学进程。调查结果将广泛散发给丧葬和殡葬科学专业的组织和个人。这个项目扩大了历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。在芝加哥大学香农·道迪博士的指导下，拉沙亚·豪伊提出了一个问题：是什么因素导致了美国殡葬和殡葬活动的种族差异？自南北战争以来，殡葬活动在整个美国社会变得越来越同质化，尤其是在上个世纪殡葬技术进步的背景下。非裔美国人的丧葬和停尸业在历史上一直是高度专业化的行业，在种族隔离结束后仍保持了很长时间。研究人员探讨了文化和种族在维持这种专业化方面所起的作用。实地工作将在芝加哥南部的殡葬场所进行，这里长期以来以其塑造和代表非裔美国人生活的作用而闻名。由于死亡环境的可变性，有更丰富的数据集来分析这些社区的丧葬习俗。自2016年以来，该研究员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，这将有助于详细的数据收集并产生重要的研究成果。她将重点关注在非裔美国人殡仪馆和相关场所（如教堂和墓地）工作的专业人士，以及参加死亡护理提供者专业组织的专业人士。殡葬工人打捞尸体；火化或防腐；与保险公司和政府机构进行沟通；并且，应要求，指导亲人通过计划和举办葬礼和追悼会。考虑到死亡护理中一直存在的种族隔离，这个项目？研究人员将评估黑人葬礼专业人员和他们的客户如何定义黑人葬礼实践，以确定他们认为什么是独特的。他们还将研究这些描述如何与美国人对种族的看法联系起来。由于尸体一直是殡葬习俗的核心部分，随着火葬的日益普及，对美国更普遍的防腐和埋葬传统提出了挑战，调查人员还将评估黑人葬礼中尸体意义的变化。方法包括在各种殡葬环境中进行观察性研究（殡仪馆、教堂的葬礼服务，以及家庭安排葬礼的会议），与殡葬专业人员进行访谈，并在全国殡葬大会上监督小组讨论和活动，与会者讨论相关问题、挑战和业务变化，以便比较在芝加哥地区和美国其他地区以及国外观察到的情况。这项研究的结果将为了解美国今天的葬礼习俗以及它们是如何演变的提供见解。因此，这项研究将通过美国社会的死亡实践及其可能教给我们的东西，为我们提供有价值的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.